The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officially welcomed the world’s first Tesla Cybertruck police fleet, built and upfitted by Unplugged Performance’s UP.FIT division.
Through rigorous R&D, UP.FIT engineered a duty-ready platform with full police electronics (lights, sirens, PA), prisoner partitions, push bars, rock sliders, and pursuit-grade brakes, suspension, and durability upgrades. The result is a vehicle that outperforms legacy trucks in handling, stopping power, and high-stress reliability while integrating seamlessly with LVMPD’s Remote Drone as a First Responder program.
“The police force of the future is here today, and it’s built by UP.FIT in partnership with LVMPD. Under LVMPD’s visionary leadership, we are thrilled to be engineering this cutting-edge Cybertruck fleet. This collaboration reflects a shared dedication to delivering solutions that significantly enhance officer safety, operational superiority, and community well-being,” said Ben Schaffer, CEO at UP.FIT.
The deployment of 10 Tesla Cybertrucks aligns with LVMPD’s commitment to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint. The Cybertruck’s electric powertrain offers significant environmental benefits, while its robust design and advanced technology provide officers with a powerful and reliable tool for serving and protecting the community.
“They will be at every area command…the trucks are high performance and built tough to handle everything from Fremont Street to Redrock Canyon,” stated Sheriff Kevin McMahill of LVMPD during his address. “The Cybertrucks are practical, powerful and designed to make our job that much safer.” He also noted that they will be an important recruiting tool stating that the UP.FIT PATROL CYBERTRUCK fleet is “a heck of a good recruiting tool…[and we are] already seeing increases in our recruitment.”
The Cybertrucks are being provided through a generous donor, demonstrating the community’s support for innovative policing solutions. During the event, Sheriff McMahill reiterated that the whole fleet of Cybertrucks was donated by Ben and Falicia Horowitz and at “zero expense to the taxpayer”.
Beyond its enhanced performance and commitment to sustainability, the deployment of the UP.FIT PATROL CYBERTRUCK fleet represents a major step forward in fiscal stewardship for the department and local taxpayers. A single UP.FIT PATROL CYBERTRUCK is projected to deliver an estimated minimum savings of $47,540 over a typical five-year useful life compared to a conventional internal combustion engine (I.C.E.) police pickup truck.
These substantial savings are immediately realized through reduced operating costs. Based on 2024 average energy costs for the Las Vegas region ($3.78 per gallon of gasoline versus $0.21 per kWh of electricity, per bls.gov/data), each truck is expected to generate annual fuel savings between $8,800 and $12,000. Furthermore, conservative estimates show an additional minimum savings of approximately $3,540 in scheduled maintenance costs over the five-year period.
The potential for savings is magnified by the vehicle’s longevity. While I.C.E. Police pickups are commonly retired around five years or 100,000 miles, the UP.FIT PATROL CYBERTRUCK benefits from a Tesla battery and drive unit warranty of 8 years or 150,000 miles. This means the vehicle may remain in the fleet for 1.5 times the useful life of an analogous I.C.E. truck. This extended lifespan will compound the annual fuel savings dramatically while reducing the frequency of costly new vehicle procurement, truly maximizing the return on investment for the community.
The UP.FIT PATROL CYBERTRUCK, which is assembled in Austin Texas and Upfitted in Hawthorne California, is also the most American made police duty vehicle, featuring roughly twice the American-made parts as comparable Ford and Chevy legacy patrol vehicles.
