Los Angeles Fire Department Deploys Nation’s First Electric Fire TruckLos Angeles Fire Department Deploys Nation’s First Electric Fire Truck

The Rosenbauer RTX battery-electric fire truck marks the start of the shift away from diesel power.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

May 19, 2022

3 Min Read
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The Rosenbauer RTX electric fire truck for the City of Los Angeles.Image courtesy of Rosenbauer, LLC

Electric power seems likely to make its first inroads into the heavy truck industry for vehicles that operate over short distances and return to a base where they can be recharged. Fire trucks are an excellent example of this kind of use case, and the City of Los Angeles has made the first move in that direction by taking delivering of a Rosenbauer RTX electric fire truck.

“We are the first department to purchase an all-electric fire truck from Rosenbauer,” said City of Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. “We are beaming with pride to be able to add this fire engine to our fleet.”

It is easy to see why. The truck carries a 600-volt, 132-kWh battery pack that power front and rear electric motors producing a combined 490 peak horsepower and 350 continuous horsepower.

The batteries are contained in two packs, one that lies at the very bottom of the truck’s floor, for the lowest possible center of gravity, and another vertical pack that stands behind the cab for centralized mass.

The dual motors provide all-wheel drive, and the truck also features all-wheel steering. The rear wheels can steer in opposition to the fronts for a tighter turning radius or in parallel to the front for a crab mode that lets the truck slide sideways.

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With the storage bay doors open, the Rosenbauer RTX displays the firefighting equipment that it carries onboard.

The RTX’s on-board 500-gallon water tank is also mounted between the axles, above the floor battery pack, to keep mass as low and as centralized as possible for optimum handling.

Related:Will Electric School Buses Cultivate the Next Generation of EV Drivers?

It is able to locate these components in the ideal spots because the RTX is built with a unitized body construction, like a car, rather than the usual body-on-frame truck design. This is also why the entire body is one piece, without separation between the cab and the fire engine body. The overall result is increased rigidity, which aids the RTX’s ride and handling.

Despite its carlike foundation, the RTX has an air suspension system that can lift the truck up to 19 inches of ground clearance, for three feet of water fording capability. The same system lets the truck kneel down like a city bus, for easy access to the equipment in the back. At normal height, cab step-in is only ten inches.

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Firefighters control the Rosenbauer RTX's systems from a dash-mounted touch screen interface.

Inside the cab, there is no engine tunnel intruding in the floor and the front seats rotate around backward so they face the rear seats for in-truck conversations among the crew. There is enough head room inside for firefighters as tall as 6’2” to stand inside without ducking.

The one in the right front seat also won’t obstruct the driver’s view of the right-side mirror because the outside mirrors have been replaced by camera systems. That means there’s an unobstructed view of the display screens for those cameras, and the cameras automatically switch to infrared at night to provide night vision.

Related:Electric Vehicle Industry Group Issues EV Road Map

Another significant device that can be controlled remotely from inside the cab is a rooftop water cannon on a turret. This lets crews immediately attack a car fire or dumpster fire as the arrive on the scene, without the delay of dismounting and deploying equipment.

The truck’s exterior lighting systems provide sufficient coverage that in many instances there will be no need to deploy a lighting mast, according to Rosenbauer. For other on-site electric power needs, the RTX has an AC power panel that can run connected devices on 120-volt or 240-volt AC power.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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