Are these the new electric police cars we may be seeing on Essex’s streets in the coming years?

American electric vehicle company Tesla, well known for enigmatic owner Elon Musk, unveiled a police liveried Model 3 – capable of 0-60 in 0.42 seconds – in June.

The car has been made available to emergency services across the UK for trial, the company has said.

And Essex Police’s head of fleet – the department in charge of police vehicles – hosted a visit from the company yesterday (August 12).

John Gorton, Police Fleet chief for Essex and Kent, took time out of his day to inspect the new model and learn about the technologies which power it.

Despite the Model 3 £48,490 price tag, it will save emergency services money, Tesla claims, due to minimal maintenance needs and the cost savings of charging a car with electricity rather than petrol or diesel.

And the police boss hinted at a potential partnership which may see the cars out in force across the county – with the UK Government targeting a shift to all new car sales being fully electric by 2030.

He said “Hosted a visit by Tesla today. Great opportunity for chiefs, officers and my technicians to understand this leading edge and state of the art technology. Not in the NAPFM national framework yet, but watch this space.”