The first fully electric ambulance in Europe in the 5.5 t class was put into regular operation last week by Hanover's Lord Mayor Belit Onay at Fire and Rescue Station 1.
The state capital of Hannover attaches great importance to accelerating the change in transport in its own vehicle fleet. In addition to the passenger car segment, the focus here is also on commercial vehicles used by the fire and rescue services. An important milestone in this context is the commissioning of Europe's first fully electric series production model of an ambulance (E-ambulance) in the 5.5 t class for the fire brigade by Lord Mayor Belit Onay.
Onay emphasised the importance of this commissioning as follows: "It is a special concern of mine to actively protect the climate within the city administration. I am proud that we in Hanover are pioneers in actually putting environmentally friendly emergency vehicles on the road".
First City Councillor and Fire Department Head Dr Axel von der Ohe emphasised that the procurement of the E-ambulance should also be highlighted from a financial point of view: "The people in our city can rely on the help of the fire brigade in an emergency. The commissioning of the all-electric ambulance shows that rapid assistance and climate protection are also possible under the imperative of economic efficiency and economical use of tax resources".
Hannover's Fire Brigade Chief Christoph Bahlmann addressed the technical issues of electric mobility in emergency rescue vehicles. Due to the high frequency of use of these vehicles, all idle times must be used for charging if possible: "The patient handover times at the hospitals and the associated idle -times of the vehicles are ideal for quickly charging the drive batteries. In the run-up to the procurement of the E-RTW, contact was therefore already made with the Hanover hospitals. Thankfully, charging infrastructure is now available for us at all locations of Hannover Region Hospital in the area of the emergency rooms."
In addition to climate protection, there are other significant advantages of the E-ambulance compared to the previous conventionally powered models:
- very good acceleration
- Very good deceleration due to electrical energy recovery "recuperation" - this significantly reduces brake wear
- very good road holding - partly due to the batteries installed in the chassis frame
- very low driving noise in the interior (driver and patient compartment)
- No engine noise and emissions when the vehicle is stationary during patient care at the site of operation or in the vehicle
In addition to the technical requirements, essential work ergonomic requirements also had to be implemented. Thus, it was possible to design the interior of the vehicle almost identically to the already existing ambulances with diesel engines. This uniform equipment is of particular importance for the targeted and rapid treatment of patients under emergency conditions.
Since last Friday, the WAS E-ambulance has been available for use at Fire and Rescue Station 1 on Weidendamm.
