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All Electric Fire Truck
- Thread starter hridge2020
- Start date
Joshker
Member
All these comments for these articles are killing me... I work as a firefighter and get the same pushback from my coworkers UNTIL they actually drive one of my cars, and then they get it. The ignorance and spreading of misinformation is embarrassing. The parking lots at our stations are 80% big diesel trucks so it's going to be a long time before you get buy in from the fire service. Rosenbauer has a nice start here but I actually believe hybrids will be better suited for the fire service at the current time in technology.
parapyropig
Member
The energy required to move around a fully loaded fire truck would pale in comparison to the energy needed to sustain the engine’s fire pump for an extended period of time.
But, could it be done? Sure. I’m not sure there are many roads that would be able to handle the weight of such a vehicle...
But, could it be done? Sure. I’m not sure there are many roads that would be able to handle the weight of such a vehicle...
Joshker
Member
Correct, from what I can figure:
Pump Power Requirements - Fire Apparatus
“For example, a 1,500-gpm pump at its best requires 186 hp.”
1KW = 1.341HP
186hp = 138.7 kilowatts
Here lies the problem in reality the pump needs to run no more than an hour for most fires. What about that rare 4-8+ hour commercial fire? Just to run the pump for one hour in a perfect world you'd need 138kwh, 2 hours, 276kwh etc... You're going to need a huge battery to get you there and back, offer you pump time for the worst case fire and then be ready for the next medical call. Not going to say it won't happen, just seems like a hybrid would work better for indefinite ability to run in the worst case condition. Something like the Volt powertrain, provide enough power for all electric operation for say an hour before the motor generator fires up. Something that can run as an EV for 90% of days. We are already rolling around with 40K lbs, a 500kwh battery won't cut it in a fire engine.
Pump Power Requirements - Fire Apparatus
“For example, a 1,500-gpm pump at its best requires 186 hp.”
1KW = 1.341HP
186hp = 138.7 kilowatts
Here lies the problem in reality the pump needs to run no more than an hour for most fires. What about that rare 4-8+ hour commercial fire? Just to run the pump for one hour in a perfect world you'd need 138kwh, 2 hours, 276kwh etc... You're going to need a huge battery to get you there and back, offer you pump time for the worst case fire and then be ready for the next medical call. Not going to say it won't happen, just seems like a hybrid would work better for indefinite ability to run in the worst case condition. Something like the Volt powertrain, provide enough power for all electric operation for say an hour before the motor generator fires up. Something that can run as an EV for 90% of days. We are already rolling around with 40K lbs, a 500kwh battery won't cut it in a fire engine.
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