The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association (NCSA) is offering a new electric vehicle maker to its vehicle and motorcycle procurement cooperative bid program for 2023-2024: Tesla.

Zooming into Popularity

Tesla models have proven a popular choice for law enforcement agencies and general government fleet duties.

NCSA Business Development Director Jason Bennett told Government Fleet that the association reached out to Tesla for its Vehicle Procurement Program due to the increased demand of electric and hybrid options to local government fleets within North Carolina.

The association was also contacted by a number of local government agencies to specifically look into adding Tesla to its vehicle offerings.

The two models available for ordering through NCSA's program are:

• Model 3, Tesla's compact car, which has up to 333 miles of estimated range.

• Model Y, Tesla's small crossover SUV, which has up to 330 miles of estimated range.

While the demand for Teslas so far has not been overwhelming, Bennett said the demand it has seen is from larger populated local government agencies.

"This proves to the Association that it would be in the best interest to serve our government agencies by adding additional electric and hybrid fleet options," Bennett added.

Other OEMs that offer EVs and/or hybrids in NCSA's cooperative bid program include Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Stellantis, and Toyota.

The NCSA cooperative purchasing programs are open to all local government agencies, not just law enforcement ones, should their local governing purchasing ordinances allow.

Why Purchase Through a Cooperative Bid Program?

Per local governing purchasing ordinances, local government agencies must participate in a bidding process for items over a certain monetary limit. While this limit ranges by local government agency, due to their cost, vehicles will always require a bidding process to ensure the government agency is procuring the vehicles at the most reasonable and available cost.

Additionally, procuring vehicles through associations like NCSA can ease the process for government fleet managers. Through its cooperative purchasing programs, NCSA takes away the bidding burden on the government agency as the Association performs these responsibilities on every vehicle offered on its Vehicle Procurement Program.