Dubai: It is no secret that cars are one of the biggest contributors to pollution and energy resource depletion.
For years, environmental experts have called for greater use of advanced power systems in cars to significantly reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
With efficient and clean technology more readily available, the calls have only got louder.
A recent study carried out by a Dubai-based professor has highlighted how replacing the entire fleet of taxis in Dubai can not only significantly reduce carbon emissions but also help cut transportation costs.
The extensive study conducted by Prof Bassam Abu Hijleh, dean of Faculty of Engineering and IT at The British University in Dubai, won a special award from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) at its annual Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport last week.
“Looking for alternative technology is not only important environmentally but it also has economic benefits. Dubai Government spends more than Dh1 billion in fuel subsidies every year and using Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) can offer benefits of lower fuel consumption and lower emission, hence saving millions of dirhams spent on subsidies,” said Prof Abu Hijleh, who spent around a year studying alternative options and the use of HEVs.
He added that HEVs have been round for a few decades but have failed to gain wide-spread popularity.
“The main barrier for this is economic, due to the high upfront cost of a HEV compared to its standard internal combustion (IC)-only counterpart, which tends to translate into a long pay-back period.
“The economics become even worse in countries in which fuel is subsidised, e.g. the case of the UAE. Taxies are a prime candidate to benefit from the use of HEVs due to the high operational duty cycles and long distances travelled,” he explained
Hybrid benefits
Prof Abu Hijleh’s study looks at the economic and environmental benefits of using HEV taxies in Dubai in place of the current gasoline-powered fleet.
“The results are promising with a pay-back period of less than 1 year and a net taxi operator annual direct saving of Dh2,613 and Dh4,301 for the 1st and subsequent years, respectively. As the gasoline price is subsidised in the UAE, the Dubai government stands to save Dh12,997 per taxi for a total of around Dh104 million,” said Prof Abu Hijleh.
According to the study, the use of hybrid taxies would also result in an annual CO2 emissions reduction of around 13.7 tonnes/taxi, an approximately 30 per cent reduction compared to gasoline-powered vehicles, which translates to more than 109,000 tonnes of CO2 per year given the current size of taxi fleet in Dubai.
The results, he said, clearly show that using hybrid taxies in Dubai has both significant economic and environmental benefits.
