California upgrade company aims militarized 'Tactical' Cybertruck at police forces A California company has retrofitted a third-party tactical version of Tesla's Cybertruck for the police, though it's not clear if this is really the vehicle officers will want to use. The modified version of the truck is made by UP.FIT, which has made police cars out of Tesla EVs since 2020. On the surface, the Cybertruck is …
As much as El Reg, or a least the American Left Wing Nutjob contingent, dislikes E. Musk, I personally am grateful for the extremely large and constant exposure that you give him.
You might hate him but it is always very interesting to learn what he is doing, or what is being done with the products that he produces. And thanks to El Reg, E Musk probably gets even more credit than he deserves.
Maybe El Reg is moving slightly to the opposite side of the overton window ? Now that would truly make the San Fran crowd ecstatic.
It's all too easy to make fun of is it not? Late, way too expensive and appalling quality control during production. One example:
https://insideevs.com/news/717730/cybertruck-owner-issues-1-month-pedal/
As for the remarks regarding "left-wing nutjobs" passed by the one you were replying to what can one say? He has simply very clearly identified which type of nutjob he is :).
"Look, it's easy to criticise Elon Musk for any of reasons including the Cybertruck but what you have to understand is that it's also great fun."
Poking fun at Elon? I have to agree. It's also very easy. I'll have a very big plate of crow to get through if he comes up with a positronic brain to put in Optimus, but I'll risk that.
If you go to your favourite internet tat bazaar, and search for the term "Tactical" - all sorts of "tactical" tat will be returned - a couple of good examples to narrow the search would be "torch" or "knife" - the reality is, the majority of these would not pass muster for real military selection/use
"...It's not too hard to imagine a wanted criminal evading a police officer in a Cybertruck by merely going offroad and then finding a hill to drive over..."
Whereas would the police officer be driving an Impala, a Crown Vic, a Taurus or even a Ford Explorer with shiny road tires (fancily named Police Interceptor blah blah) - they'd be flying, flying over that hill, and said wanted criminal would be very, very sorry for having tried to swim against the mighty tide of justice :-P
.. unless his name is Trump, apparently. Sorry.
But yeah, a criminal trying to escape in a Cybertruck won't faze the police. They can just pursue it with a diesel car - that will have even enough range to cart the idiots back to the police station before it needs a refill. They do need to carry a big metal ball though, as Musk demonstrated.
:)
Yes, if I ever have to flee from the bizzies I will pray they are in Sports Futility Vehicles. As you said, there are plenty of hills around here that a Subaru family estate car will happily climb and a Wankpanzer can't. Or I can run through a shallow stream, the Subaru will have no problem, the Deplorean will short out.
I mean, I have no desire to actually be a criminal or flee from the police, but if you hand me this juicy scenario I just can't help but imagine.
《That's a new word for me: wankpanzer》
Me too!
Google translate gives the English as "roll tank" ? Curious or perhaps curious how the German mind works.
Wankerpanzer (half) translates as expected. (No not "Landbruiser.")
Wichser, Wichs, wichsen* are apparently the German vernacular equivalent.
So perhaps Wichspanzer or Wichswagon. :)
Anyway I learnt that Panzer also (originally) means body armour like chain mail.
* politely: to polish or to black (as in shoes or stoves I imagine.)
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The Cybertruck will not "short out" wading through a comparatively deep stream. It does need some time to pressurize the battery, though and it has been demonstrated that it is "mostly" ok after doing so.
The main problem of the CT is its weight.
But off-road fitness has AFAIK never been a consideration for getaway vehicles. Else criminals would use Ariel Atoms and beach-buggies.
The main desirable feature of a Cybertruck as a police car is its physical presence, it's brutalistic physicalilty.
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There are even easier ways of escaping Police SUVs available in the middle of town's with no hills necessary. For many years criminals have been removing one of the series of bollards preventing vehicles using pedestrian paths between roads, allowing small cars to pass through while stupidly over-wide vehicles will come to grief.
The rozzers haven't asked for this, and as per the article, it's unclear whether this is a vehicle they would actually want to use.
So Musk makes a Cybertruck.
A 3rd party company buys one, and puts all kinds of flashy crap on it. They say it's aimed at law enforcement, but in the absence of money, contract or any particular interest beyond ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, this is nothing more than a rolling advertisement for their company.
No taxpayers involved.
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Wait and see what? Whether a taxpayer suddenly emerges from the gloom and claims they've been duped by the Muskinator because a third party bought one of his trucks and modified it?
As others have said; it's not the case here; this is a private enterprise doing private enterprise things. It might be the case at some nebulous point in the future when and if the police commit to buying, but right now they're not involved so as far as this is concerned all taxpayer tits remain resolutely unsucked.
"Who pays for the rozzers to have all this fancy crap?"
It's easy. Take the money from road maintenance and buy these Wankpanzers (I'm going to use that word all the time now.) It will slow down traffic and make it more difficult for the bad guys to drive away, but the filth will have something that can navigate many of the pot holes.
Just what they need, a remote control with 21 buttons to figure out (which will inevitably have ridiculously unnecessary modes for the lights and sirens), and jumping in for a hot pursuit but the computer does a software update and the car won't work for an entire day. And an off-road rated vehicle that needs an additional off-road package purchased to be able to go off-road. And the vehicle can't be sold off on the second-hand market when it's time to be replaced in less than 3 years (assuming it even makes it as long as an average normal car). And the officers are embarrassed to be seen in it. But at least the bicycle and Segway cops will feel better, no longer being the most ridiculous unit on the police force.
"and jumping in for a hot pursuit but the computer does a software update and the car won't work for an entire day."
A bigger dilemma is what happens when it needs parts or service? Does the PD just leave it in the car park for a few weeks until a tech can be dispatched and a few more weeks for parts to be available? To have a $100k+ vehicle sitting unusable in a car park is a big waste of money with no advantage.
A couple of "influencers" have proved that it isn't all that bullet proof from the factory. It will be really, really expensive to fix any bullet holes.
> Tesla CEO Elon Musk says his truck will one day be able to cross bodies of water, including rivers, lakes, and even seas, as long as they aren't "too choppy."
It’s probably not the look he was going for, but I’m picturing Jeremy Clarkson trying to cross the English Channel that time in a Toyota Hilux.
There was also this rather funny incident: where some cops got locked in their Tesla as their suspect cycled around the car making gestures at them (before crashing into the selfsame car)
1163 people shot to death in the USA in 2023, 3 in the UK in 2022/3*
* I guess this is the financial year
space: I'd like to see him come into certain bars in this town ("this town" being Boston, Massachusetts, USA) and say how great the UK police are.
cow:
THe british police are great,...
the UK has far less massacres...and other violent crime....
but hey who wants to live in a peaceful place when you can live in a shithole where schools have metal detectors and police inside right ?
space: Luckily, if he tries this, Boston also has some of the world's best hospitals.
cow: Most americans would disagree with you about "worlds best hosspitals"... because they cant afford to get help there... so being what value is "best" here ?
Im from AU, hospitals here are free, nobody dies because they cant afford help, everybody gets it....now tell me which place has the best hospitals ?
...
Yeh americans are so tuff they play baseball with gloves... try cricket with bare hands... in case you didnt know a cricket ball is hard like stone.... or how about playing football without all that girl padding and helmets, you might have heard about rugby league or rugby union... where real men play with no helmets
So yeh please tell me again who are the softcocks ?
"the most epic tactical vehicle on earth,"
The Paramount Marauder would like to have a word.
And one would think that in situations where bullets, fires and pokey sticks might well come to bear that having a reletively inert energy source like diesel might be preferably over the large lithium based bomb that sits under most EVs and likes to go off when it get dented, warm, wet or a bit grumpy.
Check my nickname -- I'd rather have one of those (Stryker) for police/paramilitary work any day. Proper armor, decent engine/transmission/drivetrain, and upgradable with many, many kits including a Remote Weapons Station. Easy enough to tack on some lights and sirens. But boy can it guzzle that diesel!
I even hear my former employer is (again) working on electric versions. They did a one-off series hybrid once, and I was part of another that replaced much of the hydraulics with high-voltage distribution (not a hybrid -- no HV battery). I don't know the exact details of "StrykerX" -- or "AbramsX" -- nor do I really care, because it seemed all the cool projects ended up shelved (and sometimes recycled years later). It makes good marketing, though, especially at the trade shows.
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