Track Record: 2025 Model Year Mich. State Police Vehicle Evaluations
Located in the same state as the Big Three automakers—General Motors, Ford and Stellantis— the Michigan State Police has a long history of testing vehicles designed specifically for law enforcement agencies for more than 70 years. “We’ve been testing vehicles since the 1950s,” Lt. Nicholas Darlington, who heads up the agency’s Precision Driving Unit and oversees its annual Vehicle Evaluations, tells OFFICER Magazine. “At that time, because of how the state bid process worked, we could only test the cheapest model.”
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In the early 1970s, three different vehicles were brought in as part of the bid process, with a price difference of around $4. “At that time, my counterparts who were in this position wanted to test the vehicles to see if $4 could actually buy a better patrol car and that was really the inception of our vehicle test as we know it today,” he says. “Of course, the technology has changed and how we measure the data has changed, but the crux of the testing process and methodology has been pretty much the same in terms of acceleration, top speed, braking and then the durability testing done at Grattan Raceway.”
While the testing itself takes place over the course of two days, a lot of work goes into preparing for the annual testing. “I laugh because we spend all year preparing for Chevrolet Silverado Z71 4WD Blue Diamond Photography Chevrolet Blazer EV AWD Blue Diamond Photography just those two days. There's a lot of time spent with the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers),” he says. “I can answer for my entire team that we all have a great sense of pride in being part of this testing and the fact that geographically, where we're located in Michigan with the Big Three. We have a unique relationship with each and every one of those. There's times all throughout the year where we're spending time with them at the track as they're developing their cars and preparing for the tests.”
While the testing itself takes place over the course of two days, a lot of work goes into preparing for the annual testing. “I laugh because we spend all year preparing for Chevrolet Silverado Z71 4WD Blue Diamond Photography Chevrolet Blazer EV AWD Blue Diamond Photography just those two days. There's a lot of time spent with the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers),” he says. “I can answer for my entire team that we all have a great sense of pride in being part of this testing and the fact that geographically, where we're located in Michigan with the Big Three. We have a unique relationship with each and every one of those. There's times all throughout the year where we're spending time with them at the track as they're developing their cars and preparing for the tests.”
This year’s patrol vehicles
This year 11 patrol vehicles, which are mainly carryover models from the previous year, were tested. The only model tested by the Michigan State Police last year that wasn’t submitted this year was the Ford Mustang Mach-E. It was the first battery electric model entered into the testing and was later joined by the Chevrolet Blazer PPV. Despite the Mach-E not being submitted this year, Darlington is confident that more EV models will be submitted for testing in the near future. “I have had a lot more conversations with other OEMs specific to battery electric vehicles,” he says. “I really expected to see more entered this year's test, but I really think that based on some of the conversations I've had that we're definitely going to see maybe one to three more entries in next year's tests.”
Darlington notes that part of the hesitancy to submit EV patrol vehicles for testing may have to do with the specific needs of patrol vehicles. “When OEMs start looking at our test and looking at police vehicles, and the more they dive into it, they realize that there's a lot of nuances that are specific to police vehicles that maybe they weren't already aware of until we started having some of these conversations,” he says. “I think it probably delays their ability to just enter a vehicle into the test without actually being able to vet the vehicle out the testing process before we get into it.”
While the acceleration, top speed and braking tests are easier to account for ahead of time, the dynamics testing can be more difficult, according to Darlington. “What really kind of separates these vehicles from their civilian counterparts is really that that durability testing that we do at Grattan Raceway because if the brakes aren't up to snuff, then that vehicle is certainly going to fail, and no OEM wants to submit a vehicle to our test and watch it fail. So, I appreciate the fact that some of these other OEMs who are interested in submitting to the core tests are taking the extra engineering efforts to make sure that what they're bringing is going to be suitable for law enforcement.”
The return of motorcycles
Motorcycles were not included in last year’s testing after the Michigan State Police briefly disbanded its motor unit. Once it was brought back, the Precision Driving Unit decided to test the three motorcycles submitted for acceleration, top speed and braking at the Chelsea Proving Grounds. Two of the models are carryovers from previous years, but the Harley-Davidson Road Glide is a new addition to the manufacturer’s lineup and was submitted for testing. Darlington says the model is a fixed-fairing bike similar to the BMW 1250 RTP—which also was tested. He added that in terms of acceleration and braking all of the models submitted for testing performed well and that the design and performance of patrol motorcycles have been pretty consistent over the past five years or so without any major changes in the market.
Testing results
The Michigan State Vehicle Evaluations is broken into two separate days. This year, the first day of testing took place on Sept. 14 at the Chelsea Proving Grounds, which is owned by Stellantis.
“They have a beautiful facility over there. They have a 4.7-mile oval with a 46-degree banking. That's where we do all of our deceleration runs, our acceleration runs and our top speed runs,” says Darlington. “This year we had unseasonably warm temperatures, so I think ambient temperatures that day were about 10 degrees higher than what we had experienced the year before. So, we saw a little bit of an increase in the stopping distance on a lot of the braking that we did. The first day of testing there was successful with no real major hiccups or anything like that.”
Day 2 of testing took place on Sept. 16 at the Gratton Raceway, which is where the dynamics testing was performed. Other than the warmer than usual weather, Darling says there were no complications with the testing. “It's a little taxing on the cars and taxing on the drivers, especially during the dynamics testing when they are in the car pretty much from 9 o’clock in the morning when start the test until we conclude right around of 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It was a long day for them.”
The acceleration and top speed results: The Chevrolet Tahoe 5.3L RWD and 5.3L 4WD went 0-60 mph an average of 7.52 seconds and 7.85 seconds with a top speed of 130 mph and 124 mph, along with an overall average deceleration rate of 29.83 ft/ s2; and 28.94 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 129.83 feet and 133.81 feet respectively. The Chevrolet Silverado Z7X 4WD and Z71 4WD went 0-60 mph an average of 7.52 seconds and 7.28 seconds with a top speed for both of 112 mph, along with an overall average deceleration rate of 26.42 ft/s2; and 27.62 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 146.55 feet and 140.17 feet respectively.
The Chevrolet Blazer EV AWD went 0-60 mph an average of 5.08 seconds with a top speed of 130 mph and an overall average deceleration rate of 30.21 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 128.16 feet.
The Dodge Durango 5.7L AWD and 3.6L AWD went 0-60 mph an average of 7.30 seconds and 9.03 seconds with a top speed of 130 mph and 127 mph along with an overall average deceleration rate of 27.68 ft/s2; and 27.33 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 139.90 feet and 141.66 feet respectively.
The Ford Police Interceptor Utility 3.0L EcoBoost AWD, 3.3L Hybrid AWD and 3.3L AWD went 0-60 mph an average of 6.17 seconds, 7.76 seconds and 8.77 seconds with a top speed of 148 mph, 136 mph and 136 mph along with an overall average deceleration rate of 28.27 ft/s2;, 28.62 ft/s2; and 27.98 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 136.99 feet,135.29 feet and 138.40 feet respectively.
The Ford F-150 Police Responder 3.5L EcoBoost 4WD went 0-60 mph an average of 5.95 seconds with a top speed of 121 mph and an overall average deceleration rate of 25.50 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 151.83 feet.
For the motorcycles that were submitted for testing, the BMW R 1250 RT-P went 0-60 mph an average of 4.03 seconds with a top speed of 137 mph and an overall average deceleration rate of 27.04 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 143.18 feet.
The Harley Davidson Electra Glide and Road Glide went 0-60 mph an average of 5.34 seconds and 5.49 seconds, both with a top speed of 110 mph, along with an overall average deceleration rate of 25.92 ft/s2; and 24.50 ft/s2; and a projected stopping distance from 60 mph of 149.39 feet and 158.08 feet respectively.
To view the full results, visit officer.com/55245375
Paul Peluso | Editor
Paul Peluso is the Managing Editor of OFFICER Magazine and has been with the Officer Media Group since 2006. He began as an Associate Editor, writing and editing content for Officer.com. Previously, Paul worked as a reporter for several newspapers in the suburbs of Baltimore, MD.
