Kia e-Niro Becomes Medical Transport

• East Midlands Ambulance Service in the UK orders 16 Kia e-Niro EVs for non-emergency patient transport tasks.

• The patient transport vehicles usually cover about 90 miles a day in the use of the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

• The order has replaced 16 diesel models, though the agency is not yet outfitting EVs for emergency transport tasks.

We don't usually think of electric crossovers as ambulances or patient transport service cars, but that's exactly what a fleet of Kia e-Niro crossovers has become in Derbyshire, UK. The East Midlands Ambulance Service in the UK has replaced all of their non-emergency patient transport service (NEPTS) cars with a total of 16 e-Niros.

The decision didn't materialize overnight. The Derbyshire NEPTS tested a number of possible replacements over the course of three years before settling on the e-Niro.

"We are constantly evaluating the electric vehicle offering that is available, which is changing and improving with new products being launched year on year," said Steve Farnsworth, assistant director of operational support at EMAS. "These vehicles have an excellent range and the manufacturer is very much established in this field of technology."

The UK-market e-Niro is rated at 282 miles, which is adequate for this type of duty, as NEPTS vehicles only complete around 90 miles per day on average.

Until the purchase of the e-Niros, the East Midlands Ambulance Service had employed 16 diesel cars. The ambulance service estimates that by going electric, it will be able to reduce fleet emissions by 96 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year.

"The climate emergency is also a health emergency and these zero-emission cars are welcomed at EMAS as we recognize their importance in reducing the negative health impacts caused by air pollution," said Stacie Scullion, sustainability, energy and compliance manager at EMAS.

Of course, the e-Niro itself is one of the smaller EVs available in the UK at the moment, so it's not quite equipped for EMT duty that involves emergency response or emergency patient transport. However, in the UK it could be considered for such a duty, allowing for physicians in the NHS system to make house calls.

At the moment, relatively few ambulance services in the US are considering electric vehicles for paramedic duty that doesn't involve passenger transport, but there are now enough large crossovers on the market to offer an alternative to Ford Explorer crossovers used for this purpose. Whether there is enough momentum at the moment for hospitals and emergency services to actually purchase them is another matter, as fleet sales and specialty equipment for EMT duty is an industry of its own. The Ford Mustang Mach-E certainly comes to mind in the context of domestic crossovers that could be outfitted for EMT duty, but it will probably take a while longer for EVs as EMT vehicles to become more mainstream.

In addition, it's not easy at the moment to even buy a fleet of EVs of this size for this type of duty in the US, due to market pressures. But eventually, an electric Ford Explorer, for instance, could make sense in emergency fleets.

"We’re really pleased to have been able to introduce these fully electric, zero-emissions vehicles to our fleet," said Andy Watson, fleet assistant general manager for EMAS. "With these vehicles now fully operational, we are immediately putting them into service as we respond to the needs of our patients."