The Road and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) have joined hands to promote green mobility and sustainable transport by offering electric car owners some great incentives including free parking spots, free vehicle registration, free charging, free Salik tag and so much more. The decision was made in a meeting on Sunday at the Armani Hotel at Burj Khalifa.
Those who would ditch their combustion engine cars for electric cars would be able to park their vehicle for free at 40 different locations across Dubai. Furthermore, they will not pay a single fil for RTA registration, renewal and Salik tag. They would even receive an exclusive plate number sticker for differentiation from other cars.
DEWA has gone a step ahead and has offered free electric car charging to electric car owners in Dubai until the end of 2019. They have already installed 100 electric charging stations and are working to install 100 more by the end of 2018.
“[The main challenge is] we don’t see electric cars in the market and we would like to penetrate the market by providing such incentives. I am sure now that government and private entities, or even individuals will shift to electric vehicles when they know how much they can save,” said Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water.
He told that so far only 800 EVs are making up the Dubai’s vehicular fleet, while the government is looking to increase this figure to 2% by 2020.
“Our ambition is to increase the numbers of e-cars to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions. Currently, the number of e-cars is very low, which is why we started improving infrastructure and adding more charging stations,” said Al Tayer.
According to DEWA studies, “Dubai expects the number of electric and hybrid cars on the road to reach 32,000 by 2020 and 42,000 by 2030.”
Recently, RTA received 50 Tesla electric cars for its limo fleet and aims to include more hybrid and electric cars to make 50% of its fleet green by 2021.
Electric cars are not only environment friendly but would also save motorists a lot of money. Till 2009, the electric car owners in Dubai will save Dh2,000 worth of fuel in a month.
“Charging a Renault electric car costs Dh7, as compared to fueling a petrol-powered Renault with about Dh120,” said Al Tayer. “Similarly, to charge a Tesla car can cost up to Dh29 compared to over Dh200 of fuel.”