Police vehicles come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Most people are familiar with the Dodge Chargers and Ford Explorer cop cars that patrol highways and cities across America, but depending on where you live, the police could be using anything from Smart Cars to Ford F-150s as department transportation, based on the type of service needed.
That spectrum of service is ever-expanding, and Ram is taking advantage. The American truck maker announced today it will begin offering what it describes as the first-ever “pursuit-rated” 3/4-ton, heavy-duty pickup truck enforcement vehicle, based on the 2500.
Pursuit-capable isn’t just a clever branding phrase. The enforcement vehicle industry relies on annual testing performed by the Michigan State Police (MSP), which includes acceleration, braking, and handling trials, to determine whether certain vehicles are capable of performing pursuit duties. Agencies around the country use these results to determine which vehicles they purchase for their fleets.
Up until now, the biggest pickups to have completed MSP’s tests were the Ford F-150 and the Chevrolet Silverado—both smaller 1/2-ton trucks. Ram sells a police version of the 1500 called the SSV, but it hasn’t been tested by the MSP. The 2500 is the new king of the pursuit-capable fleet—so long as you measure that crown through physical size and not actual performance.
The Many MSP Tests Ram Needed To Complete
The Michigan State Police’s testing regimen is no joke. The testers want to relay exactly how each vehicle will perform in the real world when subject to high-speed chases through unexpected terrain at several speeds. That means tests not only for acceleration times, but also for braking endurance and handling prowess.
The acceleration portion of the test is pretty simple. MSP takes over the oval track at the Stellantis-owned Chelsea Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Michigan, and hooks up each test car with a Racelogic Vbox 3i GPS-based data box. Then, it tests each car in standing starts to 60 mph, 80 mph, and 100 mph. They also test how far each vehicle takes to hit 100 mph and 120 mph (if possible). Each car gets four runs, where the acceleration times are averaged for a final result. On the final run, the driver continues to accelerate until the manufacturer’s electronically limited top speed is reached. MSP says the top speed must be reached within a distance of 14 miles.
The Ram 2500 Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), with its 6.4-liter Hemi V8 making 405 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque, had no problem reaching its electronically limited top speed of 103 mph in that distance, doing the deed in just 0.45 miles. A lot of that had to do with its shorter gearing; the regular 2500 gets a 3.73 final axle ratio, while the ERV gets a 4.10 version for peppier acceleration.
It’s worth mentioning that the 2500 had the lowest top speed of any vehicle tested, beaten by both the smaller Chevrolet Silverado PPV (114 mph) and the Ford F-150 Police Responder (121 mph). The fastest car of the test was the Ford Explorer Interceptor, with a top speed of 148 mph.
The Ram 2500 was also the slowest truck to 60 mph, posting an average of 8.41 seconds. The Durango Pursuit trailed just behind at 8.26 seconds. The Mustang Mach-E GT was by far the quickest of the bunch, posting an average 0-60 time of 4.03 seconds. But the F-150 was pretty damn quick, too, with an average time of 5.68 seconds.
To test braking ability, MSP does 10 consecutive stops from 60 mph before giving each car a cooldown lap, then does 10 more stops from the same speed. Testers take the average deceleration rate to calculate the average distance needed to stop from 60 mph. Here’s the math behind that in case you’re interested:
The Ram was again the worst performer, scoring an average of 170.13 feet to stop from 60 mph to zero. The next closest car, the Silverado PPV, needed just 149.81 feet to perform the same stop. The F-150 wasn’t far behind, at 148.31 feet.
When it comes to testing handling and vehicle dynamics, MSP doesn’t take things easy. Each car is driven by four officers for eight timed laps each, for a total of 32 laps, around Grattan Raceway, a hilly road course in central Michigan with a good mix of high-speed corners, low-speed turns, and a couple of big braking zones. The average lap time score is calculated using the average of the five fastest laps overall.
According to the MSP’s evaluation form, this test is the “true test of the success or failure of the vehicle manufacturers to offer vehicles that provide the optimum balance between handling (suspension components), acceleration (usable HP), and braking characteristics.” The real test, though, is to ensure the cars can do 32 laps without any big mechanical failure.
Weighing in at 6,680 pounds—or 810 pounds heavier than the next heaviest car tested—it should come as no surprise that the Ram 2500 put up the slowest lap time average of 1:52.17. The next slowest vehicle, the Silverado PPV, put up an average time of 1:41.18. The quickest car was the Explorer Interceptor with the 3.0-liter EcoBoost engine and no hybrid tech, with an average time of 1:35.95. But the Ram came out of the test functioning just fine, which, if you know how hard on cars lapping a race track can be, is a victory all its own.
I Can See The Use Case For This Truck
By now you’re probably wondering: What’s the point of this truck? What can a Ram 2500 pursuit vehicle do that a Silverado PPV or an F-150 Police Responder can’t? Those trucks are objectively more capable when it comes to the act of high-speed pursuits, and can tow thousands upon thousands of pounds. But I can see a lot of real-world uses for a 2500-level vehicle that’s also rated for pursuit.
Obviously, pursuit won’t be the ERV’s main function. According to Ram, agencies were asking for a truck that could do a bunch of truck stuff and also happen to be pursuit-rated. Per its press release:
Responding to agency requests for a pursuit-capable emergency‑response package suited to rural, mountainous and mixed‑terrain regions, Ram Engineering quickly defined the parameters for an Emergency Response Vehicle based on the Ram 2500. The goal was to combine law‑enforcement capability with the flexibility required by fire, rescue and emergency response agencies, all while maintaining Ram heavy-duty trucks’ hallmark capability.
Both the F-150 and the Silverado could handle off-roading just fine, but for rural departments with lower budgets and few vehicles to spare, it makes sense that they’d want a sort of “catch-all” vehicle that could perform a wide range of duties that include hauling stuff or towing loads that normal 1/2-ton trucks can’t. Because this truck passed MSP’s tests, it can now also be used to chase down the occasional baddie on a rough, dirt back road—no need to call in a different car to chase instead. At the same time, it could pull disabled vehicles off the road, move downed trees, or haul a huge generator into a town without power.
Whether the Ram 2500 ERV will spawn a line of heavy-duty pickups from other manufacturers isn’t clear right now. As far as Ram knows, it’s the only automaker to send a 3/4-ton pickup to MSP’s trials and get a pursuit rating from the department. If anything, I’d love to see what pursuit-ready Silverado 2500 HD and Ford Super Duty look like.
Top graphic image: Ram
Gross
That’s some grade A ragebait. Well done.
A couple of years ago we helped Conservation Officers install no access signs on a river island (canoeing the signs and gear). Caught a ride back upstream in the backseat cage of their truck – GM 2500 tricked out for both wilderness and law enforcement. Fun for a short voluntary ride.
My sheriff’s department exclusively runs trucks, this is a rural area with a lot of gravel and dirt roads, it makes sense. Most are F-150’s and Rams, but they do have a couple F-250’s.
Pursuits are dangerous and stupid and now even more so. Cool.
so the chase lasts until it runs out of gas or has a catastrophic failure ?
“Michigan Says Cops Can Now Chase You In A 3-Ton Ram 2500 Heavy Duty Pickup”
Well, they can try, but with a top of 103 MPH, then won’t do very well.
RIP my Smart cars…lol
I’m still in 3rd gear at those speeds…
Were they also tested for not-killing-pedestrian-ness? Cuz these things seem primed to do that.
I’ve decided that in mega-truck vs pedestrian, you are expected to lay down and hope the driver doesn’t turn.
To be fair, it is probably easier to see a 3/4 ton pickup coming than something like a Charger. Plus, laws of physics mean the 3/4 ton is less likely to make any last-second changes in direction. Just try to get out of the way.
Also to be fair, if you get hit by a speeding police car as a pedestrian, it probably doesn’t matter much what kind of vehicle it is.
All valid points, but I was coming at it from the whole “tall, blunt front ends = death” angle, which I only recently learned about and is now haunting my thoughts.
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-vertical-front-ends-pose-greater-risk-to-pedestrians
You certainly aren’t wrong. Obviously, pedestrian safety is a concern with police pursuits.
My concern (as someone who drives a 3/4 ton truck) is that these things are simply not designed with performance driving in mind. It is good they appear to have brakes that adequately resist fade, but that doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better. Nothing changes the mass or high center of gravity with these vehicles.
On the plus side, anyone who drives one of these for five minutes should have no illusions they are driving a sports car no matter how “pursuit rated” they are. I could see officers in sportier vehicles overestimating their driving ability or underestimating the risk of a chase because they are in a high performance vehicle. Hopefully the size of these things will be a constant reminder to exercise caution.
They’re pretty good at destroying people in cars, too, as my last experience with one and the permanent memory loss and headaches can attest to.
I’ve seen some Ontario Provincial Police running Ram Power Wagons, probably for similar reasons why Michigan is looking at the 2500s. I guess they thought off-road capability was important, but the full Power Wagon treatment seems like overkill for anything they’re going to do.
I’m going to throw out something that just came to me. The Heavy Duty class trucks are the new American Muscle. I have an F-250 with the smaller 6.8L, it f’ing cooks when I need it to. But it can’t turn for shit, you should see me try to park this thing at Target.
Anyways, this is like putting one in a charger that can go off-road. When I was a kid we’d party up in the woods on the state lines and bounce between the jeep trails when one side’s cops would show. Those guys would have caught us if they had trucks like these to chase us.
I’ve been saying something similar about trucks since the early 90s, when my friend ordered a Dakota as a kind of performance truck (stripped, smallest cab and bed, shortest gearing, biggest engine). With multiple rear end ratios, transmissions, engines, cab size, bed size, there were far more options than you could get from cars even back then. They were raw, big, and didn’t handle or stop well, just like old muscle. He ended up backing out, but they gave him his deposit back as they said they’d easily sell that truck.
Much agreed, my current truck is by far the heaviest vehicle I’ve owned, but with a turned up diesel it’s also by far the most powerful. And it’s 21 years old
Do they offer the police package on the 2500 with the Cummins? Would be crazy to watch a cop rolling coal.
Ewe got to be kidding.
Holy Athena those truck braking distances are horrid! Can’t avoid physics. Also, 14 miles to hit top speed is an insane spec.—why even have it at that point? I can see how these could be useful for rural jurisdictions. The individual markets they call out are small, though if there’s a large enough number of them, maybe competitors will come up with similar offerings.
I’m pretty sure someone forgot the decimal based on the actual distance it took.
Oops, yeah, I forgot to add a sentence asking if that was the case. I could see 1.4, maybe outdated at this point, but reasonable. If you’re even in a chase for 14+ miles, you need to radio a roadblock or get a helicopter.
Doesn’t have to be a helicopter. Washington state has a handful of Cessna 182s and a 206 with FLIR cameras. The 206 is pretty maxed out at 170 mph (150 knots). The 182s can do about 165. The underwing FLIR cameras might knock top speed down a few.
They’ve had at least two successful apprehensions of people doing 160+ on motorcycles in the last few weeks that I have heard of. Essentially, they just follow along and guide ground units into place.
The Eurocopter AS350s that most law enforcement agencies are only a few mph faster flat out and they cost a LOT more to buy, fly and maintain.
This makes more sense. I think “helicopter” because they’re used in more populated areas, but anywhere there’d be a 14+ mile chase would be more rural.
A few years ago, when I lived near Houston, some guys stole a Hellcat of some sort and led cops on a chase east for about 60 miles. A TX DSP AS350 kept up with him until he ran out of gas and ditched in a field. The local ABC station was trying to follow along in a Bell 505 (top speed 155 mph, but probably slower with camera and microwave gear adding drag) and fell a few miles behind before the chase ended. But they got there in time to get video of the cops searching and finding the suspect.
I’ve seen some of those kinds of chase videos online and it’s nuts how fast these cars are and how little traffic there is. It used to be that if you couldn’t duck out of sight in the first 30 seconds in an area where you have multiple avenues of escape, you probably weren’t getting away because cars just weren’t that fast and traffic and such would generally prevent anyone from using that much power unless it was 3AM, but some of these modern cars accelerate out of sight in less time than that on flat stretches of road and don’t even need to take an exit.
It weighs about the same as Teslas that have been used as cop cars, so why not? 😛
This seems like it’s designed to appeal to the vanity of police officers rather than any compelling public interest.
I’d think a Vespa and a good drone would be better for pursuits
now i’m wondering if my prius can run away from this. probably NOT but if i had enough head start maybe. I’m all for giving police more options but my biggest issue is how easy it would be to impersonate a cop in a truck like this. Also i’m so sick of the “unmarked” cars. the local sheriff has Black tahoes with ‘gloss dark grey’ livery and the led lights are microscopic. unless the sun catches the writing JUST right you can’t see the markings. i’ve also noticed a lot of other police forces doing something similar. WHY??
I agree, unmarked cars are stupid for traffic enforcement. If the point of traffic enforcement is safety, a clearly marked vehicle will cause more people to check their driving than an unmarked vehicle doing speed traps.
I don’t know if they still do it, but the MA State Police used to park older cruisers in spots for this reason. There was one on the Tobin Bridge for a number of years whose engine had blown in a chase. I’m sure it helped toll evasion to some degree thinking a statie was waiting there.
Ha. I’ve even seen them with mannequins behind the wheel!
That’s going that extra level. Not to say they don’t use them, but I haven’t noticed mannequins in MA. I’m sure they’d be common if cops couldn’t use the carpool lanes while solo.
You’d both run at 100 mph until the Ram runs out of gas
Here in PA only the State Police can legally patrol US numbered Interstate Highways and Toll Roads. Cuts down on some of Bubba’s shenanigans.
“Ok, I’m gonna need ya’ll to go ahead and pull on over. I got a Hemi in this here pursuit truck and I ain’t afraid to use it.”
I can’t see police duties overtaxing a 1/2 ton truck but bigger is better when it’s not your money paying for the vehicle and gas.
This won’t help the Ram 2500’s DUI statistics
Or its intimate partner violence ones….
It’s an “it takes a thief to catch a thief” situation.
I expect each and every one of them to have a thin blue line Punisher skull.
I thought those were factory installed?