Kia Ev9, the electric SUV turns into an ambulance

Kia extends the list of its corporate social responsibility activities by donating an Ev9 electric SUV equipped as an ambulance for rapid first aid interventions. The initiative joins other recent ones implemented by Kia in Italy. For example, the fleet of cars made available at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic for home delivery of groceries to the elderly and people in difficulty or, again, collaborating with the Cetacea non-profit organisation that protects the sea and its resources.

The Ev9 ambulance handed over by Key Young Choi, President and CEO of Kia Italia, to Stefano Fortunato Nr.1 of the Avis Public Assistance of Cologno Monzese is the rsult of the attendance target achieved by the Kia Unstoppable Energy event, held during the Stramilano marathon last spring. The initiative implemented Kia's strategy of concrete actions for the planet and people. A mission that this Ev9 fulfils with both its electric powertrain and its self-medicine set-up.

A model at the top of the native electric range, the Ev9 suv joins the Avis line-up of fast rescue vehicles thanks both to the sprinting qualities of the 204-horsepower rear-wheel drive version, which promises a range of up to 563 kilometres thanks to its 99.8 kWh battery that recharges from 10 to 80 per cent in half an hour, and to its length of 5.01 metres and 3.10 metre wheelbase. These dimensions give rise to a very spacious interior, which can be configured in many ways. These characteristics are perfectly in line with the requirements of an ambulance that has to move more agilely and swiftly to reach the point of intervention than a classic, much more robust ambulance. The Ev9 has a personalised livery with the typical colours of emergency medical vehicles and the logos of the organisation to which it belongs, and is, of course, equipped with siren and flashing lights both at the front and on the roof, which are indispensable for getting noticed in traffic, and are only activated when the situation calls for it via switches added to the dashboard. The bulk of the conversion concerns the rear part of the passenger compartment, where there are sliding shelves, sockets for supplying medical equipment and refrigerators, housings and attachments for electro-medical equipment, storage compartments and holders for oxygen cylinders, clothing for the car's operators, torches and fire extinguishers. In addition, the inside of the hatch is fitted with blue and white LED lights to signal the presence of the automatic even when it is raised and covers the light bar above the pavilion.

The intervention of the ambulance car is managed by the 118 emergency services depending on the seriousness of the situation, the speed with which the reported location must be reached and the presence in the area of ambulances with crews consisting only of rescuers. The crew consists of a doctor specialising in anaesthesia and resuscitation who also decides whether the patient should be hospitalised by ambulance, a nurse with experience in first aid and, of course, a driver. Unlike an ambulance, in which a doctor may not even be present, the personnel of the ambulance car can administer drugs and also intervene with invasive manoeuvres thanks to the specialised instruments in the vehicle. For example, oro-tracheal intubation, pneumothorax drainage, defibrillation and electrocardiogram. Operations that can be performed prior to arrival or in the presence of the ambulance crew.