Winnebago at the Intersection of Alt Fuels and the Surgery Room

Winnebago Industries Inc. has delivered the first all-electric mobile surgical instrument lab (eMSIL) to University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Health Center. The zero-emission mobile medical unit will travel between UCLA’s Ronald Reagan and Santa Monica campuses to collect, clean, repair, disinfect and sterilize surgical suite instruments.

Built by Winnebago and Motiv Power Systems, the vehicle is expected to save the health center $750,000 a year, traveling between two hospitals to clean and sterilize surgical equipment, compared to contracting with an off-site, third-party provider to do the work.

“We applaud UCLA for its innovative application of a mobile medical unit to transform a critical and costly service, normally fixed in a building, into one that can be transported to any location,” says Ashis Bhattacharya, Winnebago’s vice president of business development, specialty vehicles and advanced technology.