Los Angeles purchases electric fire trucks for Hollywood.

Posted on February 15, 2020
Electric cars
Los Angeles purchases electric fire trucks for Hollywood.
[The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) will be the first North American customer for a new electric fire truck developed by Austrian company Rosenbauer. [The truck, scheduled for delivery in 2021, is actually an extended range electric vehicle, with a backup diesel engine to supplement the two battery packs. According to Rosenbauer, the battery packs have a total capacity of 100 kilowatt-hours, allowing for approximately two hours of all-electric operation. According to Rosenbauer, the battery packs have a total capacity of 100 kilowatt-hours and allow for approximately two hours of all-electric operation.

According to LAFD, the vehicle will likely be assigned to a Hollywood fire department.

Rosenbauer and LAFD have not revealed the price of this new fire truck, but in 2019 Business Insider reported a price of $1.1 million when the Menlo Park, California fire department was considering purchasing it.Business Insider said the purchase was rejected by the fire department's board of directors due to its high price.

The truck is a production-ready version of Rosenbauer's Concept Fire Truck (CFT), which was first unveiled in 2016.

In addition to the electrified powertrain, the CFT featured other design innovations.

The boxy body was more compact than a conventional fire truck, allowing the CFT to be lowered when parked for easier entry and exit. The concept vehicle also featured a remotely operated "crawler" that could carry more than 1,600 pounds of firefighting equipment.

Like other modern vehicles, the CFT's interior was filled with display screens; WiFi enabled the truck to connect with drones and remote vehicle diagnostics. It is unclear, however, whether all of these features will be included in the production model purchased by LAFD.

Other types of municipal vehicles are becoming electrified as well. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) previously trialled a Tesla Model S and a BMW i3 as patrol cars. However, larger vehicles such as fire trucks have proven difficult.

Other North American fire departments have not decided to purchase CFT-based trucks, but Rosenbauer is confident the market will grow.

The company expects 400 CFT vehicles to be in operation in North America by 2025 and 3,200 worldwide by 2030.

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