Emergency One opts for Stertil Koni Earthlifts
Specialist vehicle manufacturer Emergency One (UK) Limited has been using a set of Stertil Koni Earthlift heavy-duty wireless mobile vehicle lifts to simplify a wide range of workshop activities at its Cumnock site.
For more than 30 years, Emergency One (E1) has been at the forefront of design and innovation regarding specialist fire and rescue vehicles. A particular focus is on carbon reduction and green credentials, with E1 unveiling the world’s first fully electric fire appliance in 2020, the ‘E1 EV0’, which uses battery power for both its engine and water pump allowing for zero emissions.
In 2007, following an extensive programme of development and investment, vehicle lifting specialist Stertil Koni introduced its revolutionary Earthlift heavy-duty mobile column vehicle lift. The Earthlift range offers safe lifting capacities of 8.5, 10 and 13 tonnes per column and, depending on the application, up to 32 linked columns may be used simultaneously.
Emergency One’s decision to purchase the Earthlift heavy duty lifts was influenced by the model’s green credentials. Stertil Koni invested heavily to design an ergonomically efficient, economically productive and user-friendly vehicle lift that would contribute towards the reduction of a business’ carbon footprint.
An important feature of this development is its Active Energy Retrieval System, which uses gravity and the load of the lifted vehicle to retrieve energy and then store it in the batteries of the lift’s wireless mobile columns. The principle is to use the energy generated by the raised vehicle as it comes back down: in other words, to regain the gravitational energy.
The new system increases the number of lifting cycles by about 35 per cent, compared to a fully-charged set of wireless mobiles under maximum load. In addition to the reduction in power consumption, the Earthlift’s batteries need less recharging, thus increasing productivity and reducing costs.
The latest generation Earthlift also incorporates Stertil Koni’s ebright Smart Control System which allows workshop staff to operate the lifts from any column in the set. The ebright’s wireless mesh networking system eliminates any possibility of communication problems between individual columns when numerous sets are used in the same building.
Featuring full-colour touch screen consoles, the ebright Smart Control System has been designed and developed to simplify operation by providing maximum visual information about every lifting operation. For added safety and performance, the ebright Smart Control System also shows how many columns in the set are being used.
The absence of cables provides maximum access to the vehicle, with no risk of tripping and also makes the installation of the columns quicker and simpler. Furthermore, says Stertil Koni, the Earthlift’s variable raising and lowering speeds mean that vehicles can be positioned extremely accurately.
Thanks to the careful selection of its manufacturing components, including biodegradable hydraulic oil, 98 per cent of all Earthlifts can be recycled at the end of their long working lives.
“Since its launch in 2007, the Earthlift has been continually updated and improved,” says Tony Edge, general manager of Stertil Koni.
“Today, with increasing emphasis on clean and sustainable fuel sources, we believe that equal importance should be given to environmentally-friendly workshop equipment and practices.
“We are therefore delighted to supply the world’s greenest vehicle lifts to Emergency One – developer of the world’s first electric powered fire engine.”
