Posted December 14, 2019 (edited) I heard the report on KCBS this morning, about Menlo Park FD getting delivery of the first all-electric pumper, in the nation! I believe the manufacturer is in Austria, though the plate on front says Rosenbauer, which I thought is American. Weird, just like California. I assume the associated pic of the rig is the Austrian demo or something, since FD does not use blue code lights in California. KCBS quoted a $1.2m price tag, which is expensive and more than many new aerials (trucks). I saw one news report saying it was $6m, which was funny, and an obvious type or bad data. The pictured rig looks very European, or like an American ARFF/CFR rig. The chief of Menlo Park Fire was saying in the KCBS report that the all electric rig has a better turning radius than any of their previous engines. For $1.2m, it had better! ~Rescue51 https://abc7news.com/society/-menlo-park-fire-district-unveils-worlds-first-all-electric-fire-engine/5748524/ Edited December 14, 2019 by Rescue51 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 14, 2019 (edited) Rosenbauer is a worldwide company and they have an American division (they bought RK Aerials, Central States, and General Safety several years ago). This particular truck has European roots but Rosenbauer has been working to bring some of that over here. Its not all bad, they do have some good ideas but then others really don't fit into the way us Americans operate. Yes, the reported price is $6 million (US Dollars???) and if you look a the specs for the most part it would be able to handle a majority of the incidents and have "zero emissions" (don't start that discussion...) HOWEVER the run time is 30 minutes or so. On some of our runs I can't make it to the incident and back in that time let alone my time on-scene. That needs to be figured out first, most of our days we can be running for 3 hours before we would have time to recharge. News link with spec sheet... https://electrek.co/2019/12/12/electric-fire-engine-us/ Edited December 14, 2019 by lalautze Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 15, 2019 I had to do further investigation, because a $6-million price for one pumper is not acceptable, sustainable, doable, and no department I know would purchase that resource for that price. Upon further investigation, Menlo Park will get an all electric pumper for $1.2 million. A prototype is what is costing $5-million (meaning developmental costs, R&D, and any sunk costs so-to-speak.) Here is a good news item to read on it. ~Rescue51 https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/12/12/menlo-park-fire-officials-unveil-worlds-first-all-electric-fire-truck/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 18, 2019 typical Ladder truck is running a cool million, most custom pumpers are 600k Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 20, 2019 Menlo Park has canceled the order. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted December 20, 2019 (edited) And sane minds prevail. Thank God Greta is not the one ordering fire trucks, like the electric one for $1.2 million. She'd bankrupt every fire department, we'd all burn down due to no firefighting apparatus, yet she'd say it was good for the environment. Yet TIME magazine names Greta "person of the year." God help us from Greta! Edited December 20, 2019 by Rescue51 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
