Austin-Travis County EMS Leads the way with Sustainable, Cost-Efficient Ambulance Innovations

Two of the biggest cost drivers for any EMS agency are vehicle maintenance and fuel costs. Some key suggestions for increasing fuel efficiency and reducing fuel and maintenance costs include reducing speed, avoiding excessive idling and removing excess weight. Obviously, many of these suggestions present challenges to any EMS agency. In most cases, our normal course of operations run contrary to these tips. Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) has always searched for new and innovative solutions for greater safety, improved efficiency and reduction in operational costs-all while having little to no negative impact on service quality. Ambulance idle time was one area we identified as a target that could potentially save money and reduce energy consumption. In 2010, as part of the city of Austin and ATCEMS' Green initiative, solar panel systems were installed on some of the vehicles in the fleet. The solar panels allowed ambulances to be turned off at the hospitals during the day while the sun kept the batteries charged, so the ambulance would restart. During this time, we also learned that one of our public safety partners was using a battery system to power onboard cameras when their patrol cars were turned off. Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) entered into a public-private partnership with Stealth Power and green-powered electrical systems have now been installed in more than 40 ATCEMS ambulances. ATCEMS contacted their system supplier, Stealth Power, to see if we could w...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Ambulances & Vehicle Ops Operations Source Type: news