Ford E-Series 2010 unveiled today

[reaper]

There's one thing that everyone seems to be forgetting here.....

Emergency Response Vehicles that traditionally respond in 'hazmat areas' MUST be equipped with diesel engines. That is FEDERAL MANDATE.

Since diesel engines do not have distributors, spark plugs and spark plug wires (obviously they don't require a spark for combustion), there is less chance of a diesel motor igniting vapors that have reached the 'explosive range'.

Do you have PROOF of this statement?

If a gas engine is properly maintained, there is no issue. The spark is a closed system and no chance of igniting outside the combustion chamber.

[BushyFromOz]

6.8 liter Triton V-10

Its nice to see EMS is taking steps to reduce fossil fuel consumption

[BushyFromOz]

There is also, now, the apparent lack of meeting clean air standards with diesel

Only if the manufacturer couldn't be bothered meeting those standards, the Europeans have been meeting stringet emission standards for years with diesel, and the japanese manufacturers have been meeting the demand as well.

Ill keep my 3L V6 TDI Sprinter

[Dale]

1) Ford does have chassis with Cummins engines. They are considered a medium-duty chassis (F650/F750 series.)

2) The Chevrolet Kodiak/GMC Topkick chassis do have an Allison transmission mated to their Duramax 6.6L Turbodiesel engine.

3) Most of the truck manufacturers (all sizes) are developing their own engines to work with their chassis. there are strategic alliances taking place where certain brands of engines are being offered on an "exclusive" basis (i.e. Detroit Diesel engines from Daimler Trucks North America DTNA)- formerly known as Freightliner), will be available on Oshkosh and Pierce vehicles as well at DTNA branded chassis.

4) International has annnounced an alliance with Caterpillar to build a new "off road" heavy-duty chassis for them since Caterpillar has announced it will no longer be building engines for "on road" vehicles that will meet upcoming 2010 EPA standards.

5) I know of no US Federal mandate for diesel ambulance chassis. It may be a suggestion in some operations or training manual but nothing is Mandated. Gasoline engined ambulances are even a selectable alternative in Federal Ambulance Specifications where the client needs that option(due to environmental concerns, fuel availability, etc.)

6) GM does now offer the G4500 series cutaway chassis for Type III ambulances. It's rated GVWR is 14,200# versus the recently upgraded Ford E450 chassis with a 14,500# chassis. Oddly, the GM bare chassis (without a module installed on it) actually weighs several hundred pounds less than the comparable Ford (with both having the diesel engine.) That is signficant since the exact same module can be installed on either chassis and provide some "buffer" to reduce the potential overloading of the front axle.

[CBEMT]

Its nice to see EMS is taking steps to reduce fossil fuel consumption

When China stops building a coal-fired, non-EPA regulated power plant every week, I'll start worrying about the environmental impact of my one ambulance. :rolleyes:

[akroeze]

When China stops building a coal-fired, non-EPA regulated power plant every week, I'll start worrying about the environmental impact of my one ambulance. :rolleyes:

So because someone else does something you consider worse it makes what you do ok?

[CBEMT]

So because someone else does something you consider worse it makes what you do ok?

When what they do is every week is 1000x worse than the entire life cycle of what I do (eg the truck), what I do certainly isn't going to keep me awake at night.