Unique Fleet Vehicles
Bomb Squad
The City of Corpus Christi (Texas) owns this 2008 Freightliner M2 as a bomb squad vehicle and uses it fairly regularly. The unit cost more than $350,000.
CNG Service Truck
The State of Oregon's CNG service truck has two 18- by 78-inch Lincoln Type 4 CNG tanks that hold 42 GGEs (gasoline gallon equivalent) of CNG. So far, the truck has traveled 12,600 miles; 74% of that is on CNG. The MPG on CNG is slightly lower than unleaded gasoline, but the cost per mile for CNG is lower — $0.17 versus $0.35, King said. If gas prices rise again, there will be an even larger difference in operating costs. With a 325-mile range on CNG alone, the driver can complete most trips using the lower-cost CNG fuel.
Hostage Negotiations
The City of Corpus Christi (Texas) has owned this hostage negotiations vehicle for about seven years.
Ice Breaker
The Town of Castle Rock, Colo., uses a Volvo ice breaker that helps remove the ice build-up on streets that are north facing, said Paul Colell, fleet service manager.
Before purchasing this piece of equipment, the town used a motor grader and would pop the ice with the blade. Now, the operator can easily break up ice with this piece of equipment and then use a plow to get the ice out of the street. Colell said the machine allows the town to keep up with resident complaints about ice much faster and with less damage to other equipment.
Medical Clinic on the Road
In Contra Costa County, Calif., a fleet of seven mobile clinics provides vital and immediate medical care. The specially built mobile clinics are modern command centers that provide health, vision, and dental care anywhere on the road or in a large-scale emergency. They serve more than 30 elementary, middle, and high schools in five school districts. In 2015, the vehicles provided more than 13,500 appointments to children and youth, according to Carlos Velasquez, fleet manager for the county.
The county is also planning to add two dental units to provide dental services to the homeless as well as children and youth in need.
Keeping Snow Off Airports
The Lambert St. Louis (Mo.) International Airport owns an MB-5 high-speed runway snow removal unit that has allowed it to cut runway clearing time in half compared to its previous method of using various vehicles, said Michael Bernich, fleet manager.
The specialized airport snow removal unit has a 24-foot plow and 22-foot broom. It has two 500-hp diesel engines and four-wheel steering, and staff fuel it with B-20 biodiesel.
The airport is scheduled to receive its tenth unit of this style this summer.
Hybrid Sewer Truck
City of Fort Wayne, Ind., designed and built a hybrid sewer jet truck in 2010 and 2011 after Larry Campbell, CPFP, fleet management director, was inspired by electrical side bucket trucks. Fleet staff worked with International and Eaton to develop the vehicle, aiming for a unit that would do the same work while lowering fuel use and emissions.
The hybrid drive motor powers the transmission (ePTO mode). The vehicle is in use every day and uses 30% less in fuel than a non-hybrid vehicle, Campbell reported.
Dig for Water
The Minnesota DNR’s drill rig is used for groundwater sampling and can drill up to 150 feet deep, typically with a four- to six-inch diameter. This is the largest drill rig the department owns, and it also has two smaller ones, said Dave Schiller, CAFM, fleet, safety & materials manager.
MnDNR maintains the truck and engine on the rig, but a private vendor does the specialty work and inspections on the rig apparatus.
Fish Transport
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources uses this fish transport truck to haul fish for stocking rivers and lakes. The department purchased a chassis cab truck and had a local vendor refurbish and adapt an existing tank set-up (bought from a specialty fisheries upfitter out of state) to fit the truck, said Dave Schiller, CAFM, fleet, safety & materials manager. It carries up to 10,000 lbs. of fish and water.
“It is cleaned after each haul, but I think smelling fishy just goes with it,” Schiller said.
Hauling Barricades
This custom hook lift bed from the City of Moline, Ill., was designed by Fleet Manager J.D. Schulte and fabricated by the fleet crew to establish efficiency in handling barricades.
On a weekly basis, barricades are loaded and hauled to various locations for street closures for a multitude of reasons. Whether it is for a parade, water line replacement, street resurfacing etc., this bed cuts the handling time in half since barricades can be stored on the bed and never have to be unloaded and reloaded for their next use.
Moving Traffic Medians
The City of New York Department of Transportation uses this road zipper, which moves traffic medians to optimize highway capacity during peak traffic times. The 2003 zipper moves barriers by lifting each 1-meter barrier section, bringing it underneath the machine, and placing it one to two lanes away. The system can transfer a mile of concrete barrier up to two lanes in less than 10 minutes.
The DOT operates and maintains the vehicle, and it is used on a two-mile segment of the Long Island Expressway.
CNG Service Truck
The State of Oregon's 2014 F-450 service body truck was specifically built for its facilities operations specialist. The compressed natural gas (CNG) bi-fuel truck is used to maintain 43 remote fueling sites scattered across the state, lots of which require driving through mountainous terrain, according to Brian King, fleet and parking services manager for the Dept. of Administrative Services.
Fleet planned to keep the truck for 15 years or more and wanted to reduce its environmental impact during its service life. Staff calculated that the $16,700 CNG conversion cost would pay for itself in about four to six years, depending on gas prices, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Palm Beach County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office has a purple 2003 Ford Crown Victoria created to support Relay for Life events held around the county.
The unit was an active police vehicle that came to the Sheriff's Office through a merger with another municipality, said Alan Lane, fleet unit manager for the Sheriff's Office. Because the configuration was different from the rest of the Sheriff's vehicles, it was used as a spare vehicle until it was commissioned as a special event car. This vehicle is only used at fundraisers and Relay for Life events.
Hybrid Ambulance
The City of Seattle purchased two XL Hybrids units and had them installed on newly remounted Ford Medic chassis. The system integrates with the engine and transmission computers and does not void the warranty of the chassis. The city recently put the hybrid-electric ambulances in service to evaluate their performance.
The system provides assist upon vehicle acceleration and offers firm regenerative braking, according to Levi Clark, senior automotive engineer for the city fleet.
“Seattle is a very hilly environment, and having a system that can assist with the ascending and descending of hills will save wear and tear on the engine and braking systems,” he said.
High-Speed Show Car
The Texas Highway Patrol Division’s fleet of law enforcement vehicles includes this 2013 Dodge Challenger capable of intercepting almost anything an offender may be driving, according to Brian Reynolds, director of fleet operations for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
Created as a recruitment tool and showpiece, the custom-made vehicle was a donation to the DPS. The vehicle is a six-speed manual transmission and is reported to have 470 hp.
It is often used for recruiting purposes and at car shows and public events. However, if needed, it is capable of running down just about any vehicle on Texas highways, Reynolds said.
Keeping Control
The City of Tulare, Calif., uses this temporary control tower during the annual World Ag Expo held at the city’s airport each March. General Services Director Steve Bonville said the vehicle is rumored to have been used as a military control tower during the Vietnam War.
Staff don’t know the year or make of the unit, but the facility maintenance department is responsible for its maintenance and upkeep.
Ex-Military Tanker
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources obtained this five-ton ex-military tanker though the military/U.S. Forest Service cooperative surplus program, according to Dave Schiller, CAFM, fleet, safety and materials manager for the department.
Upfit work was relatively minor and done in-house. The DNR uses it as a water tanker to get water to the frontline folks fighting fires. What’s particularly useful is the high ground clearance and all-wheel-drive, which enables the vehicle to get closer to the fire than typical road trucks, Schiller said.
Little Red Honda
The State of Oregon's 2000 Honda Insight hybrid has been in its motor pool nearly all its life and now was 191,000 miles. The car required two expensive battery replacements, and its lifetime operating cost is $0.15 cpm for fuel and maintenance, said Brian King, fleet & parking services manager. It has an average MPG of 56.3.
Fleet retired the vehicle in 2013 but after fixing minor problems, it put it back in service because fans kept asking for it, King reported. Enthusiasm has declined in recent years due to its manual transmission, so it was again retired from the motor pool and is now used by fleet staff. "Some of the crew just can't let go of the little red Honda!" King said.
A High-Mileage Experiment
The State of Oregon is conducting an experiment to see if its 2007 Toyota Prius hybrid will get up to a half a million miles — it now has 411,000 miles. The Prius was mostly used for prison perimeter patrol, where vehicles can average up to 8,000 miles per month, said Brian King, fleet and parking services manager.
This Prius has averaged 56.5 MPG over its lifetime and has a combined fuel and maintenance CPM (cents per mile) of $0.07.
"It has been on lower usage town run duty for one of the prisons for a while, but we have asked it be put back on perimeter patrol to see if it will go half a million miles or more,” King said. “We think it will."
High-Speed Show Car
The Texas Highway Patrol Division’s fleet of law enforcement vehicles includes this 2013 Dodge Challenger capable of intercepting almost anything an offender may be driving, according to Brian Reynolds, director of fleet operations for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
Created as a recruitment tool and showpiece, the custom-made vehicle was a donation to the DPS. The vehicle is a six-speed manual transmission and is reported to have 470 hp.
It is often used for recruiting purposes and at car shows and public events. However, if needed, it is capable of running down just about any vehicle on Texas highways, Reynolds said.
Leaf Pusher
The City of Moline, Ill., is one of America's “Tree Cities” and a true “Urban Forest." Hence, the leaves can be overwhelming in the fall.
Its fleet crew created these leaf pushers by attaching recycled sweeper broom segments to a platform that is used to push leaves out of the boulevard and off of sidewalks. Then, vacuum crews simply drive through and suck the leaves up.
The Palm Beach County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office's pink Ford Explorer (and unpictured Crown Victoria) were created as a fundraiser and as a tribute to the Pink Heals Foundation, which features pink fire trucks that tour all over the country in support of Breast Cancer awareness.
The first pink vehicle, the Crown Vic, was such a success for the Media Relations Dept., and always in demand, that the office obtained authorization to create another pink vehicle, the Ford Explorer. With both vehicles, the Sheriff's Office is able to respond to the community’s demand for appearances at events to benefit breast cancer.
Hybrid Ambulance
The XL Hybrids system components bolt in place using existing hardware, existing holes, or remounting points in the frame, and the electronics plug into the OBD-II port under the dash, according to Levi Clark, senior automotive engineer for Seattle. The vehicles have no range limitations, no plug-in requirements, no driver training requirements, and no compromises in terms of acceleration or braking, he added.
Within the next six months to a year, the fleet will evaluate the return on investment, greenhouse gas reductions, and maintenance items and repair frequencies compared to the non-hybrid gasoline ambulances in the fleet.