Photo: Wikimedia
As you probably know, ambulances have a lot of equipment in the back to keep patients or injured people alive until they reach a hospital. And apart from being heavy, that equipment needs electricity to run, which is sucked from the car’s battery, putting even more strain on the engine.
Yes, in case you haven’t thought about it, if the demand for electricity in a car rises, it will increase the magnetic forces of repulsion in the alternator (that creates electricity), which ultimately will need more force to be turned and increase the load on the engine. This translates into more fuel needing to be burned to maintain both speed and the equipment ON.
In an effort to make ambulances greener, the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been awarded a £166,000 (~ €207,780 / $268,340) fund, part of the Clean Vehicle Technology Fund, to equip 175 ambulances with solar panels.
The panels will be mounted on the top of the vehicles and will provide electricity for most of the life-support equipment in the back and ease the strain on the diesel engines equipping the ambulances.
If the system works and a significant CO2 print reduction is registered, the solution might be applied to more units. Our only question is, aren’t those panels add more weight, thus canceling the alternator relief?
In an effort to make ambulances greener, the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been awarded a £166,000 (~ €207,780 / $268,340) fund, part of the Clean Vehicle Technology Fund, to equip 175 ambulances with solar panels.
The panels will be mounted on the top of the vehicles and will provide electricity for most of the life-support equipment in the back and ease the strain on the diesel engines equipping the ambulances.
If the system works and a significant CO2 print reduction is registered, the solution might be applied to more units. Our only question is, aren’t those panels add more weight, thus canceling the alternator relief?
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