REV Fireplace Group has partnered with Daytona Worldwide Speedway to supply 4 firefighting vehicles to the monitor forward of the 2023 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and Daytona 500. Whereas these embrace customary pumpers, one might be an electrical mannequin referred to as the Vector.
“We’re excited to supply the all-electric Vector for our Florida neighbor, Daytona Worldwide Speedway, to guard its workers, NASCAR drivers, and the numerous followers and spectators who attend The Nice American Race and different occasions,” commented REV Fireplace Group Vice President Mike Virnig. “Vector additionally protects the surroundings, making this an ideal collaboration with DIS and NASCAR and their many inexperienced initiatives designed to scale back the monitor and sport’s carbon footprint and promote sustainability.”
The Vector is stylised because the “first North American-style totally electrical hearth truck”, with 327-kWh batteries that may each drive the truck and energy the water pumps. The battery is positioned at a low centre of gravity, which is meant to scale back the chance of the car tilting whereas turning and is additional away from the cabin. It additionally has a diesel vary extender engine that routinely recharges the batteries with 120 kW if crucial, however is in any other case not wanted when combating a fireplace. Every truck has variations to accommodate its buyer’s wants.
It was developed in partnership with Emergency One Group, a Scottish hearth engine producer and sister firm; each E-One and REV Fireplace Group are owned by emergency car maker REV Group. REV Fireplace Group constructed the chassis with the diesel vary extender earlier than transport them to Scotland the place E-One utilized its innards, then despatched again to america for the outside.
The Vector was formally unveiled on the FDIC (Fireplace Division Instructors Convention) Worldwide conference in April 2022, and the Mesa Fireplace and Medical Division in Mesa, Arizona, grew to become its first purchaser. Toronto Fireplace Providers in Canada additionally ordered a pair of Vectors. Charlotte, North Carolina, the place many NASCAR groups are headquartered, commissioned a Vector from REV Group subsidiary Spartan Emergency Response at the side of plans of opening an electrical hearth station, which is ready to start building in early 2024.
Electrical hearth engines have grown in curiosity as cities hope to scale back their carbon footprint. In Might 2022, the Los Angeles Fireplace Division started utilizing the Rosenbauer RTX, which is a hybrid, makes use of an inside combustion engine vary extender, and has a boxier design akin to European hearth lorries (Rosenbauer relies in Austria). By comparability, the Vector follows the North American hearth equipment which is longer and never as compartmentalised.
The partnership with REV, which started in 2022, comes as Daytona Worldwide Speedway has labored on environmentally pleasant tasks like recycling efforts and planting timber close to the grandstands. NASCAR has additionally pushed comparable efforts by way of the NASCAR Inexperienced programme, whereas RFK Racing was the game’s first crew to realize PAS 2060 carbon neutrality in 2021.
IMSA’s 24 Hours of Daytona will happen on 28/29 January. The NASCAR season begins with the Daytona 500 on 19 February, and the Cup Collection returns to the monitor for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on 26 August.
