Ambulance fuel usage
Discussion
Anyone know how much fuel an ambulance burns while sitting outside an A and E presumably with heater running to keep patient and crew warm? 12 hours must consume a fair amount of blue diesel or do the use red?
Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
A poster on one of the Merc forums said, for the 2.7 5 cyl diesel Sprinter, is 1.08 litres an hour with the a/c on. He'd got that off the engine ECU using Mercedes diagnostic tool.
Don't know which engine the Ambulances use, and maybe the heating and electrical load is greater, but consumption is going to be in that ball-park.
Don't know which engine the Ambulances use, and maybe the heating and electrical load is greater, but consumption is going to be in that ball-park.
I would imagine you're looking at around 1l per hour. I also assume the government gets their fuel without having to pay any duty on it at all since the duty would go straight back to them. It'll be something like 80p/l after all the various taxes and duties are removed so you're talking 80p/hr of idling is my rough guess based on rocky knowledge. I don't think many ambulances spend that long sat idle considering how busy the NHS is. Relatively low cost compared to some Lords who get paid tens or hundreds of thousands to fall asleep in a room from time to time and MP's who claim expenses on every single thing they ever do.
There are currently roadworks at the bottom of our road, and the guy controlling the temporary lights sits in his van all day with the engine running. Why can't these vehicles (and ambulances etc) be fitted with night heaters like trucks are? Wouldn't that be far more economical and less polluting than having a diesel engine running for hours on end? Also, in my trucking days the longer you left a diesel engine idling the cooler the heater got.
Most of our (roadworks) fleet do have leisure batteries and night heaters, but not all (esp. not the hired stuff). Even then the engine needs to be left running if the batteries are charging which comes pretty frequent if the microwave is used a lot and there's loads of stuff plugged in to charge like walkie-talkies, torches and defibrillators.
We were laying in -5 Deg C the other night and client reported us for leaving the crewbus ticking over. I think the environmental impact of mixing 480t of asphalt to 165 deg C made our deisel usage insignificant.
We were laying in -5 Deg C the other night and client reported us for leaving the crewbus ticking over. I think the environmental impact of mixing 480t of asphalt to 165 deg C made our deisel usage insignificant.
Plastic chicken said:
There are currently roadworks at the bottom of our road, and the guy controlling the temporary lights sits in his van all day with the engine running. Why can't these vehicles (and ambulances etc) be fitted with night heaters like trucks are? Wouldn't that be far more economical and less polluting than having a diesel engine running for hours on end? Also, in my trucking days the longer you left a diesel engine idling the cooler the heater got.
Then you need to go on to install a second battery for aux heater and onboard equipment. Beef up the alternator, modify the engine management with a higher idle to compensate and the crew would need to actively monitor the charge state to determine wether to keep the engine running or not (or have an elaborate start-stop system which monitors second or third battery built-in). HelldogBE said:
Plastic chicken said:
There are currently roadworks at the bottom of our road, and the guy controlling the temporary lights sits in his van all day with the engine running. Why can't these vehicles (and ambulances etc) be fitted with night heaters like trucks are? Wouldn't that be far more economical and less polluting than having a diesel engine running for hours on end? Also, in my trucking days the longer you left a diesel engine idling the cooler the heater got.
Then you need to go on to install a second battery for aux heater and onboard equipment. Beef up the alternator, modify the engine management with a higher idle to compensate and the crew would need to actively monitor the charge state to determine wether to keep the engine running or not (or have an elaborate start-stop system which monitors second or third battery built-in).Mercdriver said:
Anyone know how much fuel an ambulance burns while sitting outside an A and E presumably with heater running to keep patient and crew warm? 12 hours must consume a fair amount of blue diesel or do the use red?
Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
I recall a Police fleet manager telling me they were exempt from fuel duty/vat and ran on biodiesel which was bulk purchased so the actual cost per litre was way less than pump prices, I imagine it may be the same for the ambulance service Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
Our Scottish Ambulance Service Mercs are the 3l V6 diesel, they are fitted with aux diesel heaters so you do not need to leave the engine running. I have no idea how much diesel it uses but it will be tiny compared to the average 13-15mpg driving around! Also, I spend no time queueing outside my A&E with a patient in the back, perhaps a small wait inside on a busy night if the patient does not go into resus.
Earthdweller said:
I recall a Police fleet manager telling me they were exempt from fuel duty/vat and ran on biodiesel which was bulk purchased so the actual cost per litre was way less than pump prices, I imagine it may be the same for the ambulance service
It’s a fuel card to use anywhere now. Might be a few bigger forces (MET, GMP) that have on site fuel sites but most don’t. Ambo round here use fuel cards as well.
The mpg readout on my (2.4 diesel) Volvo switches to gallons-per-hour when stationary, and when it's warmed up it'll say 0.1gph at idle. As it's got a pretty big fuel tank it could in theory idle for a week! Obviously in an ambulance the engine will have other work to do but still, the cost of the diesel they're using while sitting there will be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
LosingGrip said:
It’s a fuel card to use anywhere now. Might be a few bigger forces (MET, GMP) that have on site fuel sites but most don’t.
Ambo round here use fuel cards as well.
True, but the pump price isn’t that relevant if the vat/duty can be reclaimed and there’s bulk/fleet discount applied anyway Ambo round here use fuel cards as well.
Mercdriver said:
Anyone know how much fuel an ambulance burns while sitting outside an A and E presumably with heater running to keep patient and crew warm? 12 hours must consume a fair amount of blue diesel or do the use red?
Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
You clearly have no idea how much the NHS burns through and on what if you think that would have any material difference on our overall spend within the NHS budget. Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
Lets not even go into NHS budget vs overall gov spend.
Why does this feel like a "bloke down the pub" sort of comment?
"IT'S NO WONDER THE NHS COSTS SO MUCH WHEN THEY IDLE THOSE AMBULANCES ALL NIGHT!!!!!! BLOODY RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!"
Whatever it takes it will be an utterly completely trivial cost compared to, oh I don't know, the staff for said ambulance. I'd be more worried about their disgusting diesel exhaust around people than the cost!
"IT'S NO WONDER THE NHS COSTS SO MUCH WHEN THEY IDLE THOSE AMBULANCES ALL NIGHT!!!!!! BLOODY RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!"
Whatever it takes it will be an utterly completely trivial cost compared to, oh I don't know, the staff for said ambulance. I'd be more worried about their disgusting diesel exhaust around people than the cost!
Mercdriver said:
Anyone know how much fuel an ambulance burns while sitting outside an A and E presumably with heater running to keep patient and crew warm? 12 hours must consume a fair amount of blue diesel or do the use red?
Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
Perhaps the OP might consider helping some of his local ambulance crews by offering his services as an alternative, free and inexhaustible supply of hot air? Just curiosity, eating up the health budget consuming fuel while stationary is another cost
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