PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The first all-electric ambulance in the U.S. is now in service in Montgomery County.
Abington-Jefferson Health has started using an electric, zero-emissions ambulance to transport patients and also control pollution.
An ambulance is a big polluter — it burns diesel, and it’s not quite aerodynamic. Plus, it sits idle for hours at a time while patients are treated or transported, meaning it puts more toxins into the air than a regular car.
“Traditional in the ambulance space is to buy diesel-power ambulances and usually what are called box trucks. Those are the big, bulky ambulances,” explained Anthony Capone, president of mobile medical services company DocGo. “Those, plus the fact that they’re diesel, are some of the worst for the environment.”
Related
That’s why DocGo partnered with Jefferson Health to introduce the first-of-its-kind ambulance registered in the U.S.
“It’s a lot more impactful than, say, a normal car, which is on, off, on, off, and might only be driven for a total of one hour for the entire day,” he continued. “An ambulance is probably having the vehicle on for maybe 12 hours straight, and all that time it’s producing fumes. So it’s a much more important segment of the population to really focus on converting to electric.”
This electric vehicle emits just one-tenth of the pollution of a regular ambulance.
DocGo’s ambulance costs nearly twice as much to build as a regular one but costs much less to operate. Capone said there are fewer moving parts to break down, so maintenance is cheaper, and then, of course, it cuts out the price of fuel.
Related
