Electric Fire Trucks

readiness · pumping · range extenders · stations

A fire truck is sized for the worst call, not the average day: it must leave at full capability at any hour and pump for hours on scene. That is why the best-known electric fire trucks still carry an engine, and why E-ONE's Vector, battery-only in its base form, matters.

Flow of the E-ONE Vector pumper: station charger, 327 kWh 800 V battery, drive and pump on battery, and an optional diesel range extender in gray. Note: the truck stays plugged in between calls, pumps for three to four hours on battery, and the optional 120 kW diesel unit recharges the pack. Below, how the best-known electric fire trucks are powered: E-ONE Vector, battery-only base truck with an optional range extender; Rosenbauer RT and RTX, battery plus range-extender engine, excluded; Pierce Volterra, parallel electric drive plus diesel, excluded. E-ONE VECTOR: HOW A BATTERY PUMPER STAYS READY Station charger 327 kWh, 800 V Drive and pump Range extender Plugged in between calls; 3-4 h of pumping on battery; an optional 120 kW diesel unit recharges the pack. HOW THE BEST-KNOWN ELECTRIC FIRE TRUCKS ARE POWERED E-ONE VectorBattery-only base truck; range extender optional Rosenbauer RT / RTXBattery plus range-extender engine (excluded) Pierce VolterraParallel electric drive plus diesel (excluded)
Models tracked
3
In production
2
Vector battery
327 kWh, 800 V
Pumping on battery
3-4 hours
Hub
Vehicles

Finding

Fire apparatus are the hardest municipal vehicle to run on batteries because readiness, not range, sets the requirement, and the answer so far is a large pack kept full at the station plus, on most trucks, an engine for long incidents

REV Group's E-ONE Vector carries 327 kWh at 800 V, pumps a typical structure fire for three to four hours on battery and drives about 229 km in the city before an optional 120 kW diesel range extender is needed; Mesa, Arizona, put one in service in 2024. Los Angeles took the first Rosenbauer RTX in the US in 2022, and Madison, Wisconsin, an early Pierce Volterra; both carry diesel engines and fall outside this battery-only directory.

Most fire engines drive less than 10,000 km a year, so range is rarely the problem. The problem is the long incident: a multi-alarm fire, a wildland interface call or a day on scene after a storm, with the pump, lights and tools running while the grid may be down. A battery truck must leave the station full every time, so stations need chargers sized to refill between calls and power that survives outages - backup generation or battery storage at the station itself. Rosenbauer and Pierce answered with engines that start when the battery runs low; E-ONE made the engine optional.

Firefighter health is the case departments make most often. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified occupational exposure as a firefighter as carcinogenic to humans in 2022, and diesel exhaust in apparatus bays is one exposure departments can remove; an electric truck also starts with no exhaust inside the station and runs quietly enough for crews to talk on scene. Low cab floors and electric drive improve access and acceleration from a standstill.

Europe builds battery-only fire appliances on electric truck chassis: bodybuilders mount pumps and tanks on Volvo FL Electric and FE Electric and Mercedes-Benz eEconic chassis for urban stations, and Rosenbauer's RT runs in Berlin, Amsterdam and other cities with its range extender. In China, Zoomlion and XCMG, the largest fire-apparatus makers, market new-energy fire trucks at home; none has an exported battery pumper with published specifications.

Fire apparatus

Electric fire apparatus

Battery-electric only; range-extended trucks excluded.

Electric fire apparatus
ModelCountryClassBattery kWhRange kmChargingConfigurationsUseStatus
Vector (E-ONE (REV Group))USClass 8327229CCS1 DC at the station; 800 V packCustom pumper body; optional 120 kW diesel range extender (base truck is battery-only)Pumper (Mesa, Arizona and other departments); 3-4 h of pumping on batteryin production
FL Electric / FE Electric (fire) (Volvo Trucks)Sweden(N2/N3)CCS2 DC at the stationChassis for battery-electric fire appliances from European bodybuildersEuropean urban fire appliancesin production
eEconic (fire) (Mercedes-Benz)Germany(N3)CCS2 DC at the stationLow-entry crew cab for fire bodiesEuropean urban fire and airport rescuepilot

Powertrains

Electric fire truck powertrains compared

Listed for reference; only battery-only trucks are in the directory.

Electric fire truck powertrain approaches
TruckMakerPowertrainEngine on boardIn directory
VectorE-ONE (REV Group)battery-electricOptional 120 kW diesel range extenderYes
European battery appliancesBodybuilders on Volvo and Mercedes chassisbattery-electricNoneYes
RT / RTXRosenbauerBattery plus range extenderBMW-sourced diesel range extenderNo
VolterraPierce (Oshkosh)Parallel diesel-electricDiesel engine drives truck and pump on long callsNo

Station readiness

What a station needs before an electric engine arrives

Fire station readiness for electric apparatus
ItemWhy it matters
DC charger per apparatus bayRefill between back-to-back calls
Backup power at the stationCharging must survive the outages that cause calls
Minimum state-of-charge policyTruck leaves full; dispatch knows remaining pumping time
Mutual-aid plan for long incidentsRange extender, mobile charger or diesel backup unit
Mechanic and crew trainingHigh-voltage safety at crashes and in the bay

Sources

Sources and scope

Scope
Electric Fire Trucks
Sources
Government Fleet (Mesa E-ONE Vector, Jan 2024); REV Fire Group; Rosenbauer; Pierce Manufacturing; IARC Monographs volume 132 (2022); Oct 2026
Updated
October 2026