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This does not sound unreasonable at all. The crown Vic and explorer have had kits for decades and ford designers know the requirements

This department bought retail consumer teslas and had to get custom fittings to bring them up to spec

Of course it’s going to be expensive. Getting out of ICE vehicles is going to have a sticker shock and it’s our own fault for waiting this long to get started

The $150k budget included the price of 2 cars. They probably didn't get base models. $35k was for modifying both.

They have to bootstrap the r&d for armoring Teslas. They could only find a performance shop that mostly does fiber aero kits. That's the actual issue - no existing armorers. For the "engine block hide", though, would keeping some extra vests in the frunk do the job?

Perhaps they're better off with an EV Blazer?

Weight matters. They can add a bunch of armor but then the cars range is shot and it's too slow. It's already a heavy vehicle.