The Victoria Fire Department has welcomed its first electric fire truck, one of just a handful in North America.
The new truck will be in service by the summer once staff finishes training on it.
It’s expected to be in full-electric mode 95 per cent of the time it is in use, but has a backup diesel engine that will automatically engage if the battery drops below 20 per cent in the event of an extended response at a fire.
The Vancouver and Brampton fire departments are the only others in Canada with an electric truck.
Fire Chief Dan Atkinson said the department will be acquiring another similar vehicle within two years.
“The principles of the department are that we look to electric where it makes sense,” he said.
“This is the right truck for the City of Victoria.”
Cory Meeres, a master mechanic for Victoria Fire, said the new Austrian-made truck is three feet shorter and four inches narrower than a typical diesel counterpart, which makes navigating city streets “much easier for us.”
He said the truck is also lower to the ground because it has air suspension rather than traditional spring suspension, meaning more direct access to hoses and other equipment for firefighters.
Atkinson said the new vehicle cost about $1.7 million, compared with $1.2 million for a comparable diesel truck, but costs are virtually identical once federal and provincial grants for electric vehicles are factored in.
Along with its design advantages, the electric truck can do everything the other heavy-duty vehicles in the department’s fleet can do and fits with the city’s environmental goals. Atkinson said.
The city aims to have 80 per cent of its vehicles electrified or otherwise renewably powered by 2040. “We’re going to be reducing our carbon footprint, that is first and foremost,” Atkinson said. “It also eliminates exposure to carcinogens at the scene. Diesel gives off carcinogenic fumes.”
Emissions will be reduced by about 20 tonnes a year as compared to a diesel truck.
Meeres said the department has had electric cars in its fleet since 2020, so there is existing charging infrastructure with more to come.
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