The Electric Vehicle (EV) Pilot Project is part of the government’s CleanBC initiative to reduce carbon emissions with funding provided through the Carbon Neutral Capital Program (CNCP). It will also help reduce air contamination and environmental degradation.
Front line responders - paramedic specialists, advanced care paramedics, and supervisors - will use the Mach-E vehicles to respond to calls in the Metro Vancouver area starting this fall. One of these single-responder vehicles will also be deployed in the Greater Victoria Area.
An electric patient-transport capable ambulance will also be deployed this year. It will only be used for patient transfers between hospitals during this phase of the pilot project.
Charging stations will also be installed at various sites in both trial regions.
Next year, BCEHS plans to expand the geographic scope and scale of the EV deployment.
It is conservatively estimated that the EV Pilot Project will produce cost savings of over one-million dollars within ten years, not to mention the significant reduction in greenhouse gases.
This project is expected to be the first e-ambulance deployment in Canada, and the largest deployment of electric vehicles in a Canadian ambulance service to date.
Many emergency/first responder agencies are already using EVs around the globe. The London Ambulance Service, for example, aims to have 42 Mach-Es in use as advance care rapid response units. And in New York City, 184 Mach-Es will be deployed as police cruisers and emergency response vehicles.
