Palo Alto Police jump Tesla to buy the first R1S Rivian cruiser in America

While Palo Alto houses Tesla, the local police service went Rival Rivian for its first electric police cruiser

<!––>

–>

The very first R1S police cruiser officially made his debut in the United States, and he heads directly to Palo Alto, which houses Rivian’s sprawling installation. The electric SUV was unveiled during a recent event at the headquarters of Rivian, where local mayor Ed Lauing took a moment to take the company with praise.

Interestingly, this charter city in the northwest corner of the County of Santa Clara also houses the new world seat of Tesla, which has been working there since 2023. However, for any reason, the brand of Elon Musk has not completely cut.

Read: 2025 Rivian R1S and R1T combine tired looks with new technology and more power

Unlike the stronger and lzer designs that you could expect from a police cruiser, the R1S maintains it underestimated. Most of the outside is decorated with shiny black, while the entrance doors get a clean white trim. The badge of the department makes a neat appearance on the sides, adding just enough flair to remind everyone that it is a police vehicle – not a luxury SUV in road trip.

The R1S cruiser still needs some adjustments

For the moment, the R1S does not have the usual red and blue roof lighting bar – it has simply not arrived in time for the event. We also speak of an added thrust bar, as well as other personalized equipment for the cabin. Rivian engineers would have worked closely with the city to prepare the SUV in active service.

Palo Alto Captain James Reifschneider spoke to Palo Alto OnlineNoting that the R1S offers a lot more cabin space than the Ford Explorers and Jeep Durangos currently used by the Department.

While making its presentation of the state of the city, Palo Alto, Major Ed Lauing, congratulated Rivian and his plans for the region.

More: California cops are aimed at Tesla police cars, call them unfit on duty

“The electric car was created for years before Rivian shipped their EV, but Rivian wanted to be the best EV in the future, not the first EV in the past,” he said. “It looks a lot like Palo Alto for me because Palo Alto is an ideal place to live, work and shopping and playing and going to school and that is not enough. We are still looking to be more innovative in the future and to make our place at Palo Alto even better.”

Other police electric vehicles

Palo Alto is far from the only city that jumps on the police police of the EV police vehicle. Several agencies in California have started to add electric vehicles to their fleets, but the transition was not presented without challenges.

The South Pasadena police service replaced all its fleet with Tesla Model 3S and Model YS, but some departments have complained about the lack of space offered by these two Tesla models. The Rivian R1S is much larger, but it is also much more expensive, from $ 75,900 in basic form before costly upgrades are performed.

It is not known if the Palo Alto police plan to add more Rivian models to their fleet.

Image opening via Rivian Forums