RUSH: Folks, get this. You won’t believe this, but it did happen. The Fremont, California police department began a pilot program. They wanted to see how electric cars would work in their fleet. The only electric car that met their requirements was a Tesla.

Well, last week a cop driving the new Tesla — the environmentally friendly electric squad car — ran into a problem. There was a high-speed chase! The cop radioed dispatch to ask for backup, because his electric car was running out of charge, running out of juice. His Tesla only had six miles of battery life left, and he was afraid the car would run out power any moment!

A police spokesman later said the incident was a one-off. It would not change their opinion about using electric patrol cars. Besides, they said, the car wasn’t fully charged before it was taken out. It wasn’t the car’s fault! No harm, no foul.

Even if there was no juice.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against Teslas. If you like ’em, have at it. If you incorrectly believe you’re gonna save the planet by driving one, have at it! If you think gasoline is old hat, go for it! But here’s why “fossil fuel” is gonna be around for a very long time: It’s cheap, efficient, and reliable. You don’t run out of it during a high-speed chase! 

And you know what? You can drive faster than the bad guy! There was no way this Tesla was gonna keep up with the bad guy!

The perp got away. The cop abandoned the chase. 

“But we saved the planet! Yaaaay!”