The Austrian Ministry of the Interior, in partnership with twenty police stations, recently tested 24 electric vehicles and concluded that they are not capable of fulfilling all types of missions… According to the Austrians, this technology still has too many limitations (either in the vehicles themselves or in the battery charging infrastructure), and therefore, the project will be abandoned by the end of the year.
The program started in early 2024 in four federal states and involved various electric vehicles, from the VW ID.3 and ID.4 to the Porsche Taycan. All were used by the police in daily patrol and intervention missions, but the test concluded that these models are also limited in terms of load capacity, as the additional weight reduces range, which can hinder an adequate response in an emergency, especially if the action requires the transport of support equipment.
“Evaluated positively, only for use in delivering notifications. For operational functions, no,” the Austrian ministry reported. However, the doors remain open. Rapid progress in this technology is expected, and the ambition is to reintegrate it quickly and definitively into the police vehicle fleets of that country.
