A $1.1 million electric fire truck will soon be operating in Menlo Park, California

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• Menlo Park Fire Protection District in the Bay Area of California has reserved an all-electric fire truck that will cost $1.1 million after shipping and inspection.
• The truck was created by the Austria-based Rosenbauer Group and was created with the intention of tackling shifts in firefighting.
• Production of the vehicle will begin in 2021.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Menlo Park Fire Protection District has reserved an all-electric fire truck that cost $1,112,900 after shipping and inspection. 

The truck —  created as a rescue vehicle with pumps, tanks, and recovery equipment — was designed by Austria-based Rosenbauer Group and was created with the intention of tackling shifts in firefighting, the environment, and ergonomics.

“Based on the megatrends in firefighting, Rosenbauer is already designing the firefighting vehicle of tomorrow – today,” Rosenbauer wrote on its website. 

Its maker claims the truck was built with predicted shifting trends in gender and age for firefighting. Other predicted shifts that were taken into account when designing the vehicle also include connectivity, urbanization, and migration.

One of the vehicle’s most nontraditional physical aspects is that it isn’t the classic red people associate with the fire fighting vehicles

“To increase the visibility as well as emphasize the special and ecological importance of the Concept Fire Truck, we have chosen the color lime green,” its maker wrote on its website.

The Menlo Park Fire Protection District has reserved one of 10 pre-production slots for 2021, according to the district’s letter of intent.

“Typically, most emergencies only last 30 minutes or less and this response unit can be shut down once it arrives at the Incident, so an electric motor is very practical, efficient and environmentally responsible!” the Menlo Park Fire Protection District wrote in a staff report.

Keep scrolling to learn more about the truck that you may soon see on the streets:

SEE ALSO: This 1,016-horsepower tractor has just been crowned the world’s fastest after it traveled more than 150 miles per hour

Rosenbauer claims the vehicle has an ergonomic design to adapt to changes in firefighting and an increasingly digitizing society.

The truck can be lowered from its ground clearance of 250 millimeters, about 9.8 inches, to 100 millimeters, about 3.9 inches. These changes make accessing the truck and equipment more convenient while it’s at work for different demographics.

It can also be raised to 350 or 480 millimeters, about 13.8 inches or 18.9 inches respectively when traveling over rough or flooded terrains. 

Furthermore, the driver and commander’s seat can rotate, and the passenger seats can be arranged into conference seating. This allows for better communication during trips and briefings, according to its maker.

The truck comes with a remote-controlled crawler that can hold up to 750 kilograms, about 1,653 pounds. This can be used to transport items like rescue devices and water pumps.

Using the truck is simplified with a central display that doubles as a control unit and information delivery system.

Onboard WiFi and a management system allow the occupants to control the vehicle and drones.

There’s also a colored LED strip below the windshield that serves multiple purposes, such as a warning light. It also turns into a green-yellow-red changing color bar to indicate scales such as the load or force on the cable winch.

There is more space in the truck than a traditional fire fighting vehicle, according to its maker.

Different sized water and foam tanks can be installed to make room for other equipment, and the rear compartment can lift to accommodate “various manipulation systems.”

Its maker also claims the vehicle is safer because of its multiple drive features.

There’s an electronic mirror system, rearview cameras, four-by-four driving mode, and surround LED lights that allow for 20 times more light around the truck than the traditional fire fighting truck when it’s at the scene.

The driver’s seat also vibrates when the truck is close to any potential danger.

Rosenbauer also claims the truck has good driving dynamics because of its balanced weight distribution and low center of gravity. And with front-wheel steering that has a large turning circle, the vehicle can be moved sideways and around cramped areas.

The vehicle is 7.6 meters, about 24.9 feet, long and 3.06 meters, about 10 feet tall. It also has a width of 2.35 meters, about 7.7 feet, with “narrow” sliding doors, which allows it to operate in denser areas, according to its maker.

Because it’s electric, the truck is more “environmentally friendly, maneuverable and safe,” its maker claims.

The truck has two electric motors that can power water pumps for 30 minutes. There’s also a diesel-powered extender along with the generator for longer truck use that is quiet and has lower emissions than a typical truck engine.

The battery can power the truck about 30 kilometers, about 18.6 miles.

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