CFT on the road in Germany

The CFT on Spring Tour

Rosenbauer toured through parts of Germany in March so that fire departments can experience the CFT up close.

To check and try out how the vehicle operates and steers. To experience what it does in various driving situations, how it accelerates, brakes, and exactly what the recuperation effect is like. To find out how the CFT handles, especially during sharp cornering or on snow and ice, how it feels for the crew in the cabin, what assistance systems are intuitive for deployments, etc.

Actions instead of words

See for yourself instead of just reading about it! In line with this motto, Rosenbauer is presenting the Concept Fire Truck (CFT) across Europe, wherever there is interest in the fire truck of the future. At the beginning of the year, Rosenbauer traveled to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and then in March to Germany. After all, the Berlin Fire Department is at the forefront when it comes to electromobility: It is the first fire department in the world to put an electric fire and rescue vehicle (eLHF) based on the CFT into regular operational service. The eLHF is a project funded by the Berlin Program for Sustainable Development (BENE – BENE grant number 1213-B4-N), which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. It's therefore hardly a surprise that the recent Germany tour – which will most certainly not be the last – began in Berlin or, more precisely, at Rosenbauer Deutschland in Luckenwalde.

Setting the course in Berlin

At the CFT demonstration in Luckenwalde and Berlin, representatives of the Berlin and surrounding fire departments were able to see the CFT for themselves and experience it while driving. Among other locations, the CFT made a stop at the Schöneberg Fire Department – where it is one of three vehicles set to be put into trial operation – as well as at the West HQ at Nikolaus-Gross Weg 2  in Berlin-Charlottenburg, from where everyone set off for trips through the city. Interest in the CFT was not limited to fire departments, however, other organizations, such as the Technical Relief Organization, and invited press representatives were also impressed by it.

The first stop of the CFT's Germany tour acted as a further intensification of the innovation partnership with the Berlin Fire Department, which has, for example, been responsible for the development of a common IT and communication technology for the eLHF. By the end of 2020, both the test vehicle and the charging infrastructure will be ready to enter a one-year trial operation starting in 2021, as has been planned.

Enthusiasm in Viersen

The second stop on the Germany tour was Hannover, where the vehicle made a stop at Fire and Rescue Station 2. Here, the professional fire department was able to spend a day working with the CFT while also participating in a practical workshop alongside presentations and demonstration rides.

The CFT tour then headed to Viersen, to Rosenbauer's North Rhine-Westphalia customer center. Likewise, the fire departments from the surrounding area, and especially the Düsseldorf Fire Department, were invited to get to know the electric vehicle and to experience it up-close. The feedback from the representatives of various plant fire departments, who were unanimously enthusiastic about the vehicle's concept, was particularly positive.

Finale in Frankfurt

In the third week of the tour, a customer workshop for the Working Group of Leaders of Professional Fire Departments (AGBV NRW) in Olpe, North Rhine-Westphalia was on the program, before heading to the final stop at the Frankfurt am Main Fire Department. The CFT spent the last two days at Fire and Rescue Station 4 in the Sachsenhausen district, whose operational area also includes the airport. The test drives took place at the Fire and Rescue Station's training center, while the participants, as at all other events, came from the most diverse fire fighting organizations in the immediate vicinity.

After this year's first CFT tours through Europe, the bottom line is that acceptance is rising and scepticism is falling. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to help this technology of the future achieve its breakthrough.