[MikeNoun]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

It seems to me we need a brief discussion about the different categories of company vehicle types:

PEP vehicles (company vehicles assigned for general transportation based on rank or level of authority) are the ones that adhere to the 3 month or 3000 mile rotation period. They are not to be modified in any way; they are regular plated and are assigned to an individual (by name) during their company ownership.

Test/Development vehicles do not ascribe to that same time period. They are kept for as long as needed, until used up, or until they "age out" and need to be replaced by a newer vehicle. That can be as long as a couple model years. They are intended to reside at Milford (or the DPG) or the engineering building and technically are not supposed to be used for general transporation, but could be if "normal driving" is part of the evaluation. They are typically M plated but there can be a few regular plated vehicles in the development fleet.* They are also intended to be cut up and experimented with, although ideally they can be returned to production intent and sold or auctioned at the end of their run. If they are too far gone they are "expensed" (written off the books) and are kept around as a junker or scrapped.

Test/development vehicles are assigned to the development fleet via an authorization code (or to the fleet coordinator) and are available to anyone to "check out" for use in their own development project or as a group on a vehicle ride trip (either on property or off property). The fleet only has a certain number of auth codes available which is why vehicles will time out and need to be replaced. That's also why "expensed" vehicles are kept around even though they could be scrapped: they are another car available for use but don't appear on the books.

Test/development vehicles are typically loaded with content for the legitimate engineering reason that you would like to test all the interactions between options, both electrically and physically. Also, if you find out during the model year that you have a problem in the field with some obscure option your chances are better of finding one to work with already existing in the fleet if you loaded them up in the first place. That saves time in terms of having to order a specific vehicle and wait for it to be built or scour the local dealerships for a vehcle with that particular option.

PEP vehicles are typically loaded with content...well...because management folks like cushy rides, and they are not paying for it.

K

*M plated vehicles are also not supposed to be used for general transportation. Legitimate M plate usage consists of (a) transporting the vehicle from one location to another, or (b) active testing on public roadways. Usage and transfer of plates between vehicles is logged and kept in the fleet office in the event that the Michigan Secretary of State (our version of the DMV) would like to review it.

That's the best summary I've read about what these vehicles were. Thanks Keith!

This is a 1969 log book that an engineer or tester would use as their journal. They logged their mileage, repairs, quirks, and any other incident that happened to occur during their evaluation.

Mike