Photo: Dallas Love Field Airport
The “world’s first” electric aircraft fire truck now has a 400 kW fast charger to keep it ready for emergencies at Dallas Love Field Airport.
XCharge North America supplied its C7AM charger for Dallas Fire-Rescue’s new Rosenbauer PANTHER 6×6 electric aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) vehicle. The liquid-cooled charger has been installed at the airport’s new Station 21, which officially opened today.
Additional EVs will also use the charger as Dallas Love Field electrifies more of its fleet.
The 91,000-pound PANTHER can accelerate from 0 to 50 mph in under 25 seconds using electric power, or in under 20 seconds in Boost Mode. For comparison, the airport says its diesel counterpart takes 28 seconds – a big difference when crews are racing to an aircraft fire.
It can also shoot water or firefighting foam up to 250 feet, a 40% increase from the diesel truck’s 190-foot reach. That lets firefighters attack a fire from farther away. Its electric motors cut noise by around 50% during emergency responses, making it easier for crews to communicate.
The truck’s electric water pump can move up to 2,370 gallons per minute. Rosenbauer designed its battery system to cover the drive to an emergency, discharge the truck’s entire supply of firefighting agent, and get it back to the station. The manufacturer says the PANTHER can handle more than 90% of its daily operations and training entirely on electric power.
Dallas Fire-Rescue was already operating Rosenbauer trucks when the manufacturer sought a fire department to put its electric PANTHER through real-world testing. Dallas agreed, provided that the charging setup could meet the demanding operational requirements of an emergency-response vehicle.
Dallas Fire Chief Justin Ball said the XCharge system “ensures we are prepared to respond quickly and safely when duty calls.”
The PANTHER was unveiled at Dallas Love Field in April. It’s undergoing a six-month test period covering everyday operations, training, and comparisons with the airport’s existing fire trucks. Feedback from Dallas Fire-Rescue will help Rosenbauer refine the vehicle before it enters regular fleet service.
The new 33,400-square-foot Station 21 and Airport Operations building brings the Dallas Fire-Rescue and airport operations teams into a single facility. It replaces a fire station built in the 1960s, whose location added to emergency response times.
Dallas Love Field is the busiest medium-hub airport in the US, handling nearly 18 million passengers and more than 250,000 aircraft operations annually. That makes the electric PANTHER and its 400 kW charger a particularly high-profile test of whether battery-powered emergency vehicles can deliver under real airport operating conditions.
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