I gotta admit that I didn't see this coming, but I'm happy to hear it!
Dubai: Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, has opened the pilot testing phase of ten hybrid vehicles to be used in Dubai's taxi fleet.
The vehicles are the environmentally friendly Chevrolet Tahoe and Malibu models by General Motors, which are the first of their kind to be used in the Middle East.
Shaikh Maktoum also inaugurated new double-decker buses fitted with Euro 4 engines, which conform to global environment standards.
Hybrid vehicles run at up to 60km/h on electricity and switch to fuel for higher speeds.
The vehicles help reduce fuel costs by 50 per cent and produce 50 per cent less emissions, according to the Roads and Transport Authority.
The RTA announced the pilot project last November, which is being conducted under a directive of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The trial is aimed at providing a clean, attractive and sustainable environment to boost the profile of Dubai.
Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director, RTA, said: "The RTA is seeking a complete renovation of all mass transit system in the emirate so that it will be environmentally friendly. A work team has been formed to substitute existing taxis and public buses with new environmentally friendly vehicles using hybrid engines and replacing the existing abra engines with CNG operated engines. All of this is a first step in a master plan to make vehicles in Dubai environmentally friendly.
"The hybrid cars team focused on realising four key objectives, namely: apply existing technology to minimise pollution from vehicle exhausts, improve the quality of fuel used for public transport buses, apply international standards governing vehicle gas emissions in Dubai, and start applying hybrid car technology in the Emirate of Dubai."
Finish reading the article here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The Chevie Tahoe does NOT get 50 mpg. They are using the mileage of the small hybrids and claiming it for the big gashog hybrids.
I'll admit that I haven't directly checked it, but most of the big hybrids that I have looked at the mileage get less than 30 mpg.
Showboating I'd say... like their supposed 'green city.'
VS
Yeah, that figure is way off, clearly. Even if it is showboating, I'd happily ride in a hybrid taxi over the existing cars.
Post a Comment