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Dubai cabs to be 100% eco-friendly by 2027, says RTA

Sujal Kothari

Published on February 6, 2023

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Key takeaways:

The five-year plan will witness the emirate’s entire cab fleet becoming either hybrid, electric or hydrogen-powered in the following four years.

Cabs in Dubai will be converted into 100 per cent eco-friendly (hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered) cars by 2027.

Cabs in Dubai planned to be 100% electric:

“The five-year plan (2023-27) seeks to change the whole taxi fleet into completely environment-friendly cars … at a rate of 10 per cent per annum,” stated Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

“The project is aligned with the RTA’s framework for (making) public transport means … emission-free by 2050.”

The RTA board has approved the plan, the authority revealed on Monday.

The transport controller has changed 72 per cent of the cabs in Dubai into eco-friendly cars. This is approximately 8,221 hybrid cars.

Al Tayer on Dubai cabs’ transformation:

“The outcomes of experiments on environment-friendly cars, which the RTA began trialling in 2008, confirmed the environmental advantages of lowering carbon emissions, fuel consumption, and maintenance fees, as well as reducing noise levels.”

“Hybrid cars also have a longer lifespan than regular cars and cost less in the long run.”

“They are marked by lower purchase costs, maintenance fees, fuel costs, insurance premiums, and other associated expenses that probably could be as low as 50 per cent of regular cars,” Al Tayer continued.

The cab fleet in Dubai struck 11,371 by the end of 2022. Taxies made 105 million trips and travelled over 2 billion km in the same year.

Success factors

Dubai’s infrastructure is vital in facilitating the use of eco-friendly cars and raising their demand. The city has lowered electric vehicle charging time from eight hours to less than 1.5.

“The charging time will resume shrinking in the future given the overall [use] of hydrogen refilling stations as an eco-friendly alternative,” the RTA continued.