Dubai govt vehicles to go green

Dubai - According to the strategy, 25% of the cars on Dubai's roads will be self-driving by 2030

Select government bodies in Dubai will soon be ordering new electric and hybrid vehicles in a bid to significantly reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases in the city.
Reporting to the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, a Dubai Green Mobility Initiative Committee was formed with an executive and a technical committee in charge of achieving the committee's set targets to reduce harmful vehicle emissions in Dubai within the next four years. Cars to be ordered by government bodies, that maintain huge transportation fleets, will be 10 per cent electric and hybrid vehicles, as per the Dubai Green Mobility Initiative Committee.
The move is in line with the Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy, launched earlier by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
According to the strategy, 25 per cent of the cars on Dubai's roads will be self-driving by 2030. The strategy will save $5.9 billion in annual economic revenues in several sectors by reducing transportation costs, carbon emissions and accidents, and raising the productivity of individuals, while also saving hundreds of millions of hours wasted in conventional transportation.
It is estimated that transportation costs will be cut by 44 per cent, resulting in savings of up to $245 million a year; $408 million a year will be saved by reducing environmental pollution by 12 per cent; and $4.9 billion will be generateed in annual economic returns by increasing the efficiency of the transportation sector in Dubai by 2030.
"In adherence with the Smart Dubai initiative launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed, to make Dubai the smartest and happiest city in the world, and to support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa)'s Green Charger initiative aims to establish electric vehicle charging stations across Dubai, with 100 charging stations having already been installed since 2015. We will work to increase the percentage of hybrid cars in the emirate, and contribute towards a 16 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. Reductions are expected to continue in the near future," said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dewa.
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com