Design and Evaluation of a Green Ambulance

With growing concerns about the impact of vehicles on the environment and the increasing cost of fossil fuels, initiatives are emerging to improve future designs as well as to retrofit and study current systems. Through a developing collaboration in the Rocky Mountain region, a multidisciplinary team evaluated the current performance of an in-service ambulance to determine if alternative energy could be used to reduce the carbon footprint and save fuel costs. Design analysis of geographic location and vehicle route were completed to identify the amount of alternative energy required to reduce the amount of fuel burned during idle events. Based on this data a solar powered system was created and implemented. Evaluation of the performance of this system was performed to determine how the design could be optimized and improved for future deployments. Results from this initial investigation are presented.