ACT Fire and Rescue’s Rosenbauer hybrid fire truck will be off the road for battery repairs for at least eight more weeks. Photo: Rosenbauer.
Canberra’s $1.6 million hybrid-electric fire truck was meant to be the future of firefighting – if the future of firefighting meant a lot of sitting around, waiting for repairs.
Since joining the ACT Fire and Rescue fleet two years ago, the city’s lone Rosenbauer pumper has spent most of its time off the road – a situation that’s unlikely to change in the next few months.
But it seems Canberra might just be unlucky. Other fire departments around the world, including those in Berlin and Los Angeles, have hailed the same truck as a game-changer.
Figures released to the Canberra Liberals show that the truck has been operational on its own for just 70 days since arriving in April 2023, or about 7.9 per cent of its 886 days in the ACT.
ACTF&R’s former chief officer Matthew Mavity with the Rosenbauer when it joined the ranks in 2023. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
Shadow Police and Emergency Services Minister Deborah Morris described the purchase as a “bad deal from the start”.
“Labor purchased an electric fire truck to be trendy,” she said.
“Since being in our possession, the truck has only been fully operational for 70 of 886 days. That’s roughly an eyewatering $23,000 for a day’s use.”
The plug-in hybrid Rosenbauer, which costs about $700,000 more than a comparable diesel truck, has undergone commissioning and shadowing phases before finally responding solo to 189 call-outs earlier this year.
However, in May, it was sidelined due to a fault in its traction battery packs and has been awaiting replacements from Europe ever since.
ACT Fire & Rescue Chief Officer Glen Brewer again defended the project during a media briefing last week, stating that the lengthy rollout was deliberate and necessary.
“It’s very important to understand that the commissioning phase included the homologation process of actually getting this vehicle recognised by the regulator to ensure that it could be driven on Australian roads,” Mr Brewer said.
He said staff had to write new manuals, design training programs and run a “shadowing phase” – meaning the Rosenbauer could only attend incidents alongside a conventional truck – before it could be signed off for operations.
When it was finally cleared, Mr Brewer said the truck performed strongly.
“It operated without fault, went to numerous emergencies and attended 189 operational jobs during that period, which is actually more than some of the other conventional pumpers,” he said.
Berlin has purchased five Rosenbauer RT trucks for its firefighting fleet. Photo: Rosenbauer Group, Facebook.
Elsewhere, the adoption of the Rosenbauer ‘Revolutionary Technology’ (RT) truck has been seamless.
Berlin, which now has five RTs, completed a 13-month trial in which a single truck was deployed on nearly 1400 missions – up to 16 a day. More than 90 per cent of those were handled in fully electric mode, enough to save an estimated 10 tonnes of CO2. The city now has the largest electric fire truck fleet in the world.
Los Angeles became the first North American city to use the vehicle, and its Hollywood-based truck responded to more than 100 calls in its first week. The Los Angeles Fire Department has gone on the record praising the quiet engine, fast acceleration, and pedestrian-friendly manoeuvrability.
The trucks are now in service in more than a dozen cities worldwide, including Vienna, Amsterdam, Dubai and Christchurch.
The Rosenbauer is not the ACT’s only troubled fire truck.
A fully electric Volvo breathing apparatus (BA) support truck has been sitting idle since its arrival in November 2023. An intermittent fault drained its 24-volt battery system, leaving it unable to start. The problem was eventually traced to a lighting controller and resolved in March this year.
It has only just been handed to ACT Fire & Rescue for training and commissioning – almost two years after purchase.
The ACT’s electric Volvo fire truck is back on the road after its own charging problems. Photo: James Coleman.
The ACT Government argues the investment is about more than meeting its net-zero emission target of 2045; it’s about firefighter health.
“The true value proposition lies in the benefits that transition to EVs provides to the health and well-being of our people,” Mr Brewer said, pointing to studies that link diesel particulates with health risks.
He also noted ergonomic improvements and safety features, such as the Rosenbauer’s lowerable chassis and more spacious cabin, which are not available in conventional designs.
The truck also comes with night-vision electronic rear-view mirrors to enhance visibility, and, due to its four-wheel steering, the ability to crab-walk in tight situations.
However, critics argue that the delays and costs demonstrate that the ACT has rushed into expensive technology that has not yet been proven in Australia.
“Canberrans deserve a government that will responsibly invest in their safety, not the latest fashion trend,” Mrs Morris said.
For now, Canberra’s lone electric hybrid remains parked, waiting on new battery packs from Europe.
“Unfortunately, we’re at the mercy of the international shipping companies at the moment, and regardless of us being an emergency service, we don’t get any special priority when it comes to those sorts of things,” Mr Brewer concluded.
“We are expecting those battery packs to be received by us in about eight weeks.”
