In the pursuit of perfection and the next big thing, automakers continue to up the ante year after year when it comes to law enforcement patrol vehicles. At the annual Michigan State Police Precision Driving Unit’s Vehicle and Motorcycle Evaluations at the FCA Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Michigan, 11 patrol vehicles and 4 motorcycles were put to the test. This year, all eyes were on the Ford Mustang Mach-E police pilot vehicle as it became the first all-electric vehicle to go through the rigorous testing.
Lt. Mike McCarthy, the unit commander of the Michigan State Police Precision Driving Unit, spoke to OFFICER Magazine about this year’s results. He is responsible for the MSP’s annual training schedule, training content, scheduling of instructors, vehicle testing program and assists with the department’s fleet management.
Going electric
While not technically a 2022 model, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which McCarthy was behind the wheel of, turned plenty of heads and made quite the impression. “The car is very predictable. It handles very well. As you can see from the lap times, it performed in the same area as the Crown Vic did years ago. There were no surprises driving it. It didn’t do anything weird that a gasoline engine wouldn’t do.”
McCarthy says the hardest thing to get used to was the change in sound, or rather, the lack of it. “The hardest part of driving it is not hearing an engine,” he says. “The noise levels are different. You’re expecting to hear an engine when it’s accelerating, and you just don’t. It’s just a little different and not necessarily in a bad way because for police work, not having all of that background noise is going to be much better for radio communications, etc.”
The acceleration of the Ford Mustang Mach-E was 0-60 mph in 4.03 seconds, which was faster than any of the other vehicles tested. It also reached a top speed of 124 mph. McCarthy noted that time was done on a full battery charge.
“We had been talking about battery electric vehicles for a couple of year with Ford, Dodge and GM,” says McCarthy. “We felt that the vehicle should have to perform as well as an internal combustion engine vehicle, but we also fuel the gas-powered cars between runs, so felt it was fair that we give the same rest time to charge the battery-electric vehicle.”
2022 model year
For the most part, the 2022 model year for patrol vehicles won’t see many changes. The Chevrolet Tahoe, Dodge Charger, Dodge Durango and Ford Police Interceptor Utility didn’t undergo any massive changes compared to last year’s models.
“Overall, it went very well. The results were pretty much what we were expecting. There wasn’t anything that was a big flyer that we didn’t expect,” says McCarthy. “They are all kind of carryovers from years past.”
Adding a pickup to the mix
While the 2021 Ford F-150 Police Responder was tested by the Michigan State Police back in March as addendum to last year’s testing, this was the first time it joined the other vehicles. Overall, the pickup truck held its own when compared to the SUVs that were tested.
“If you look at their time during the dynamics testing, you’ll find that their time is right there with the Tahoe and everything else for time,” says McCarthy. “If you look at the fact that the truck runs with the Tahoe and with the Hybrid Utility and isn’t that far off of the V6 Charger time. For all of those things, it’s a balance of horsepower versus stability of control, braking, handling and overall control of the vehicle. In that environment, it does just as well as the SUVs.”
The Ford F-150 Police Responder 3.5L EcoBoost went 0-60 mph in 5.79 seconds and reached a top speed of 120 mph.
To view the full test results, visit Officer.com/21248393
