Colorado is getting its first electric fire truck

The City of Boulder announced today that it’s purchased a Rosenbauer RTX, the State of Colorado’s first electric fire truck.

Austrian-based Rosenbauer’s RTX is equipped with a 360 kW electric powertrain and two Volvo Penta Batteries totaling 132 kWh of power. It has four-stage electronic regenerative braking.

It’s a range-extended EV, so it also has a 3.0 liter 300HP 6 cylinder BMW clean diesel engine and a pump with a diesel energy backup system.

It’s fighting fires after all, so the RTX features a 500-750 gallon water tank, and its pump drive operates either by electric or through the backup system.

Boulder’s electric fire truck is expected to be delivered in late 2024 to early 2025, and the City of Boulder says that its estimated cost is currently approximately $1.78 million.

In March, the City of St. Paul became first in the state of Minnesota to order an electric fire truck. St. Paul’s fire chief, Butch Inks, after observing demonstrations of the RTX, made the point about why electric fire trucks being much quieter than diesel fire trucks is such a valuable feature:

I was blown away by its overall performance and how quiet the rig is.

Communication on fire scenes is important and can be extremely difficult, especially when six or seven loud diesel engines are operating in high idle.

In May 2022, the Los Angeles Fire Department was the first in North America to deploy an electric fire truck. Here’s a brief video of the LAFD’s Rosenbauer RTX, the same model that St. Paul’s and Boulder’s fire departments ordered:

You can see the RTX’s full specs sheet here.

Photo: Rosenbauer

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