As Dubai and the UAE advance sustainable mobility and play their part in reducing its carbon footprint, electric vehicles could be the future of transportation as the country strives to achieve its green vision and climate ambitions.
Electric vehicles, better known as EVs, are still in development, but are picking up speed as the UAE is making a strong push towards clean traffic and e-mobility.
The United Arab Emirates and Dubai have already invested heavily in EV infrastructure over the years and introduced many incentives to allow vehicle owners to switch from regular cars to electric cars.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has already announced that electric cars in Dubai will have access to free parking at designated parking lots and free Salik Day. The United Arab Emirates has also set up more than 750 charging stations across the country, and industry experts predict that demand and growth will soon increase.
“The biggest and most exciting part of it is when everyone makes the switch to electric vehicles,” Kevin Chalhoub, founder and owner of EV Lab, told the Khaleej Times.
“We’ve moved from horses to cars and are now switching to electric vehicles, so it’s not about achieving 90 percent growth; it’s about the speed with which we can go from one percent to 90 percent. From the Expo in October we hope that electric cars will no longer be the future, but the present. “
As a step in this direction, EV Lab, the first omnichannel multi-brand electrical platform of its kind, is trying to raise awareness with pop-up stores in Dubai so that people can get a better knowledge of EVs.
“EV Lab is about creating awareness for electric vehicles in the region. We want people to have the opportunity to see, test and know why electric vehicles are interesting and why they could be a good choice for them in the future, ”said the Dubai-born entrepreneur who studies renewable energy at Stanford and in the solar industry before he founded his start-up.
EV Lab had a pop-up store in the Mall of the Emirates, where it had 30,000 visitors and is currently showing four models – the Tesla Model 3, the Audi RS e-tron GT, the upcoming Bolt EUV and the newly launched Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4, the first plug-in hybrid, in the city center of Mirdif.
“Over 1,000 people have expressed their interest and that is more than the electric vehicles that we sold on the entire market last year. So it’s exciting, ”he revealed.
“Dubai has always been a technically advanced city. Dubai already has very exciting policies like free recharging, free parking, free registration and free salik tags. These are exciting incentives and I hope there will be more besides Expo 2020 as the city really welcomes the transition to sustainable solutions, ”said Kevin, who pointed out that the proportion of EV chargers is higher in the UAE than most other places in Europe.
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“There are over 750 chargers as of 2019, the second most common number of chargers per EV after Amsterdam,” he added.
“I firmly believe that adoption can be much faster. In this time after Covid in particular, people are realizing that collective action works. We have used masks and disinfectants to make sure this pandemic does not spread. Likewise, we need to make conscious and exciting purchasing decisions – such as electric vehicles – to reduce pollution, ”said Kevin.
Benefits of Owning Electric Vehicles:
> The latest technologies such as full self-driving capability
> Performance
> Acceleration (the Audi RS e-tron GT and Tesla Model 3 can accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in 3.3 seconds)
> Range (from 400km to 800km)
> Ability to recover energy when decelerating through regenerative braking, which in turn offers greater range
> Fast charging (can be charged in 6-8 hours at work / home with AC chargers; fast charging with DC chargers)
> Charge once a week depending on the distance
> Low maintenance
> 10 times fewer spare parts
> No oil change
> Zero tailpipe emissions (compared to gasoline vehicles, EVs save around 20 percent of CO2 emissions per kilometer driven)
> Some are made from recyclable materials, such as the BMW i3 model
> Incentives like free recharge, free parking, free salik tags, free registration
Models currently available in the United Arab Emirates:
> Mercedes Benz EQC
> Chevrolet Bolt EV
> Chevrolet bolt EUV
> Porsche Taycan
> Renault ZOE
> Audi e-tron
> Audi e-tron GT
> Tesla Model S / X / 3
> MG ZS EV
> Jaguar I-Pace
> Peugeot 3008 PHEV
> Hyundai Kona
james@khaleejtimes.com
