This EV Will Bring The COVID-19 Vaccine To You
Make no mistake: Distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to hundreds of millions of people is turning out to be no easy task. But we’re seeing some innovation arise from these initial problems. One example of this creative thinking is the Electric Vaccine Vehicle, a small EV launched Monday that will bring the vaccine to you.
The EVV came to life as a collaborative effort between a handful of partners: Ayro, Element, Club Car and Gallery Carts. Ayro and Gallery build the vehicle, while Element handles sales. Club Car, which you may know from the golf cart industry, signed on to support servicing the EVs. It’s absolutely a mobile vaccine clinic with every piece of CDC-recommended gear onboard to administer a safe vaccination experience. An ultralow-temperature freezer for vaccine storage, Bluetooth-enabled data loggers to track the vaccines’ temperature, sinks and medical-grade storage — they’re all crammed into this tiny EV to make vaccine distribution easier.
The companies said the vehicle is customizable, too, and offers a street-legal configuration so operators can motor to different parts of a city or community to administer vaccines. The EVV goes 50 miles on a single charge and has enough power to operate for six to eight hours at a time. It also charges on a standard 110-volt outlet, which makes it convenient for the varied places it will likely go. It can even operate indoors since EVs don’t produce tailpipe emissions.
Once it arrives at a location, medical personnel open the gullwing-style doors, drop down a utility table and they can begin vaccinating the public. There are also LED lights built in if needed. Reaching people who don’t have access to transportation with mobile vaccination centers will be of paramount importance.
The companies said the EVV is rolling out to a handful of cities across the US this month and into April, including Atlanta, Los Angeles and Boston. At these “EVV Roadshows” — their phrase, not mine (we dig the name) — local leaders and governments can check our the EVV to see if they want to add the vehicle to their growing box of tools to vaccinate America against the coronavirus.
