Firefighters from around British Columbia travelled to North Vancouver this week for a chance to get an up-close look at the world’s first all electric fire truck.
Designed by Austrian firm Rosenbaur, the futuristic looking fire truck is still just a concept vehicle, but the company is already manufacturing the first five vehicles to begin testing with the Berlin Fire Department.
The fire truck features a 350kW electric motor with 475 horsepower. Due to the huge size and weight of the firetruck, especially when loaded, that only gives it a range of about 30 kilometers. If battery life were ever to become an issue, it does have a diesel generator for backup power in the case of an emergency.
The truck can also vary its height depending on the nature of the call, and the fire crew itself. It can be raised or lowered up to 4 inches, giving it the ability to venture off-road, but also be lowered to improve access to tools and equipment for firefighters.
This electric fire truck will be competitively priced with traditional firetrucks, especially considering the added utilities available in the electric version. Traditional firetrucks can cost anywhere between $700,000 to $1.6M CAD, while the Rosenbaur elecric firetruck will cost an estimated $1.6M.
h/t [Global]
