Transcardia Oy – Volkswagen Amarok Tamlans modular ambulance’s module swap
The first swap of Tamlan’s ambulance module took place in December 2019. The swap was done for a long-term and loyal customer, Transcardia Oy, which provides ambulance services in Kankaanpää Finland. At the moment Transcardia Oy operates with this one Volkswagen Amarok Tamlans module ambulance. We interviewed Transcardia’s CEO Juha Lahti concerning the module swap and at the same time reminisced the time passed.
Transcardia Oy has been customer since the early days of Tamlans, this being the 16th Tamlans ambulance. They acquired their first Tamlans ambulance in 1999 and it was built on a Mercedes-Benz Lang chassis. Since then Tamlans has built ambulances to them on Transporters and Sprinters and now most recently the Amarok.
According to Mr. Lahti at 2015 they built the trust for Amarok over two years before buying it at 2015. Juha test drove Amarok module ambulance a lot and made some development proposals which were taken into account. The trust of the staff was created by a company visit to Tamlans factory. During the visit they got to know the production of the ambulance module and hear a presentation about the development and safety of the module. The trust building took some effort but nowadays at Transcardia they don’t want to change the Amarok to any other brands at all.
The swap of the module came into question when Transcardia Oy won the public tender in their area and got a four-year contract. They had driven 500,000 km with the old Amarok, which was the reason to purchase a new chassis. Module swap and other maintenance work was done in two weeks. During this time the module itself was moved from the old chassis to the new and e.g. new emergency lights and nurse’s seat were installed. Tamlans Oy carries out continuous development work, which means that you have the opportunity to make necessary updates to the equipping of the module when making module swap.
Transcardia Oy has experience in the crash resistance of Amarok ambulance. Amarok was pushed off the road by another car in an accident, but luckily got back to road again without any harm. According to the Injury Board’s investigation report, the saving factor in this accident was specifically an ambulance equipped for the pick-up truck chassis. In the report it was emphasized the Amarok’s driving characteristics with its four-wheel drive technology and the center of gravity of the vehicle body. Juha underlines the importance of safety in ambulance work. Safety is the starting point for the design and a trump card of the Tamlans ambulance module. In general, all the equipment needed during the transportation, such as defibrillators, are at arm’s reach when seated and safety belts on. All the heavy equipment is located outside the module in their own compartments. Thanks to Juha’s long experience in the industry he has the insight how to place all the equipment effectively. We have been lucky to have Juha taking part in the development of the ambulance module.
We give thanks to Transcardia Oy and Juha Lahti for the long journey together. There are many different wonderful and funny memories left in the heart along the way. We are looking forward to continue our co-operation also in the future!