A special Toyota Hilux fire truck has been created to extinguish electric vehicles
The six-wheeled HILOAD 6×6 has a new chassis and is no more than 1850 millimeters high, which allows it to enter underground and multi-level parking lots. But the car’s specialty is not this, but the Coldcut Cobra fire extinguishing system, which pumps water directly into the battery pack and prevents the thermal acceleration of the chain reaction in the battery cells caused by cell damage or short circuits.
The British company Prospeed Motorsport came to the rescue of firefighters and built a special vehicle for extinguishing electric cars. The donor of the six-wheeled HILOAD 6×6 Rapid Intervention Vehicle was a Toyota Hilux pickup truck. The authors did not cut the frame to install the third axle, but made a completely new chassis. After the modifications, the vehicle is ready to carry three tons of cargo, and the length of its cargo platform is now 1230 millimeters longer.
Unlike conventional fire trucks, the HILOAD 6×6 can fit into most underground and multi-level parking lots – a unique case for special vehicles. That’s because it’s shorter than a Range Rover – only 1850 millimeters. Improved traction and reduced ground pressure allow the all-terrain vehicle to be used to extinguish both forest fires and wasteland fires. An electric car manufacturer from the Czech Republic has already added one such vehicle to its fleet.
The HILOAD 6×6 has space for the crew, equipment, water and the unique Coldcut Cobra fire extinguishing system. It uses an abrasive suspended in water to pierce the battery casing and delivers water under 300 bar pressure to prevent so-called thermal runaway. Independent tests by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency have shown that Coldcut Cobra can extinguish a battery in 10 minutes using 240 liters of water – 20 percent of the HILOAD tank’s capacity.
