Dubai’s transport authority has approved plans to introduce 20 hybrid vehicles to its taxi fleet in the first step to curb pollution, it was announced on Saturday.
Mattar Al Tayer, chairman and executive director of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said he has endorsed the operation of the eco-friendly Toyota Camrys.
He added in a statement that the electric-fuel powered vehicles will be deployed in Dubai this year.
“The move has been taken in the context of a master plan to curb the pollution resulting from vehicles exhausts, and make vehicles more eco-friendly in Dubai,” the statement said.
Al Tayer said: “The RTA is making expeditious efforts to bring about a paradigm shift in the infrastructure of mass transit systems with a view to making them environment-friendly and capable of meeting the growing demand for transit means in the emirate.”
He added that a trial run of fuel-electric hybrid vehicles within the Dubai Taxi fleet showed that they covered more than 550,000km “without experiencing failures or major maintenance issues in major components”.
Fuel efficiency improvement amounted to 33 percent, and carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 33 percent, he said.
The RTA has previously also launched abras powered by compressed natural gas instead of diesel while it also inaugurated a Green Bus initiative.
Al-Futtaim Group in October launched the first luxury hybrid Fisker vehicle in the GCC and the Middle East.
The Dubai-based family owned business is an exclusive partner to showcase the full range of Fisker luxury plug-in hybrid vehicles in this region.
Al-Futtaim unit Trading Enterprises will distribute the Leonardo Di Caprio-endorsed Fisker exclusively in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt and the Levant.
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