Equipmake showcases vehicle-to-vehicle charging for electric fire engines

A year-long project led by UK engineering firm Equipmake has delivered a novel approach to powering electric fire appliances. The project demonstrates how direct battery-to-battery energy transfer can ensure continuous high-power operation during emergencies.

For background: traditionally, diesel-powered fire engines often rely on mobile bowsers to refuel when extended water pumping is required to tackle emergency situations. There’s no easy way to achieve this with an electric fire engine though, an issue that has so far hampered the use of battery power for emergency vehicles.

What Equipmake has presented this month at Cenex Expo 2025 offers a potential solution. The Zero Emission Pumping Appliance Vehicle-to-Vehicle, aka the ZEPA V2V application, replicates the same principle of refueling used by diesel fire engines but in electric form. An auxiliary power model developed by Equipmake enables one EV to supply over 200 kW of power directly to another. The firm states that this enables them to keep pumps running without interruption.

To showcase the technology, two fully electric fire engines equipped with the system are being displayed at Cenex – with the system set for a trial with the London Fire Brigade later this year. While the system has been developed with fire and emergency services in mind, Equipmake states it can be used for a wide range of applications across logistics, disaster relief, heavy industry and other power-hungry sectors. They highlight a hypothetical scenario in which a battery-powered truck could serve as an ‘electric bowser’ to deliver 24-hour continuous operation for construction, mining or remote industrial work. Other possible applications, such as mobile charging reserves for depot-based fleets, are also being explored.

Ian Foley, CEO of Equipmake, said the project shows how “one of the biggest operational challenges” for electrifying specialist heavy vehicles could be tackled: “For the firefighting sector, this technology means extended, uninterrupted, and entirely zero-emission pumping capability […] Beyond firefighting, the applications are enormous – from construction to disaster relief – wherever there’s a need for sustained high-power operations in the field.”

As fleets across Europe look to replace specialist diesel assets, V2V energy transfer represents one path forward to enabling continuous, heavy-duty operation until larger, denser batteries or alternative refuelling models become viable at scale.

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