Rosenbauer RT: What the Electric Fire Truck Can Do in Practice

Many fire brigade experts are eagerly awaiting the practical report on the all-wheel-steered Rosenbauer RT, which is set to be presented at Interschutz 2022 in Hannover. Officially, the Rosenbauer RT is a "fire and rescue vehicle with electric drive," known in fire brigade terminology as an eLHF. It has been in practical use in the German capital at the Mitte, Suarez, and Schöneberg fire stations, where it has been deployed nearly 1,600 times since autumn 2020, covering around 14,000 kilometers - meaning that each deployment required only 8.75 kilometers of travel.

According to the Berlin Fire Brigade, more than 95 percent of the deployments were carried out purely electrically. The target was at least 80 percent, which was significantly exceeded. The result could have been even better if it wasn't for a two-week outage of the charging station at the Suarez station. Additionally, there were charging issues following a software update of the eLHF. These incidents were the reason the test period was extended from one year to thirteen months. More importantly, there wasn't a single outage, which is why the Berlin Fire Brigade plans to use more eLHFs in the future.  

Unusual seating arrangement for better preliminary communication

The firefighters themselves were also positively impressed: 75 percent of the users surveyed were convinced by the unusual seating arrangement for this type of vehicle, where only the driver and the team leader face the direction of travel. The water and hose teams face each other during the ride, which firefighters say facilitates communication. This saves valuable time in an emergency.

After the test vehicle is disassembled into its individual parts and examined in detail at Rosenbauer's headquarters in Leonding, Austria, it will be on display at Interschutz in Hannover from June 20 to 25, 2022, in Hall 13 at Stand C10.

Meanwhile, interest from overseas export markets has also increased, prompting Rosenbauer to build an electric RTX for Los Angeles, which will also undergo practical testing there. Two electric motors with a power output of 2 x 180 kW (peak) and 2 x 130 kW (continuous) drive all four wheels. They are powered by two high-voltage batteries with an electrical storage capacity of 132 kWh, which also provide energy for the pump operation and other consumers at the deployment site.

Additionally, the RTX is equipped as standard with a range extender (diesel engine with generator) with a power output of 225 kW, which is compactly integrated into the structure. This turns the RTX into an integrated power plant that automatically recharges the high-voltage batteries when more energy is consumed than stored.

What does that mean?

It's less about the distance and more about the usage that consumes energy in a fire engine. That's why Rosenbauer includes a diesel as a range extender for long deployments. Interestingly, this was hardly used in Berlin, indicating that even heavy fire engines can potentially handle their operations purely electrically in the future.