Taxis in Dubai to become 100% eco-friendly by 2027

Dubai plans to transform its taxi fleet into 100 per cent eco-friendly vehicles by 2027.

#RTA Board of Directors have endorsed a plan to transform taxis in #Dubai (Dubai Taxi and franchise company taxis) into 100% environmentally friendly (hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered) by 2027.
https://t.co/6pqh6VIL3f pic.twitter.com/Yjsrd1Ogkl

— RTA (@rta_dubai) February 6, 2023

All taxis will either be hybrid, electric or hydrogen-powered by the end of the five-year roadmap. A plan to achieve the same has been endorsed by the board of directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai’s transport authority.

As much as 72 per cent of the taxi fleet across the emirate has been transformed into eco-friendly vehicles, comprising 8,221 hybrid vehicles. The Dubai Taxi Corporation hosts the largest fleet of eco-friendly vehicles, with hybrid cars accounting for over 34 per cent of the taxi fleet. It is followed by Cars Taxi, National Taxi, Arabia Taxi, and Metro Taxi.

“The 5-year plan (2023-2027) aims to switch the entire taxi fleet into fully environmentally-friendly (hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered) within five years at a rate of 10 per cent per annum to achieve the targeted 100 per cent by 2027,” said Mattar Al Tayer, director-general, chairman of the board of executive directors at RTA.

“The plan is aligned with RTA’s roadmap for transforming public transport means into emission-free by 2050.”

Read: Dubai sets out roadmap to make public transport emission-free by 2050

“The results of experiments on eco-friendly vehicles, which RTA started trialling in 2008, confirmed the environmental benefits of reducing carbon emissions, fuel consumption, and maintenance costs, as well as decreasing noise levels,” Al Tayer noted.

Hybrid vehicles also have a longer lifespan compared to regular vehicles and cost less in the long run, he added.

“They are characterised by lower purchase prices, maintenance fees, fuel expenses, insurance premiums, and other associated costs that potentially could be as low as 50% of regular vehicles.”

Dubai’s initial plan to transform 50 per cent of its taxi fleet into eco-friendly has resulted in the reduction of 420,000 tons of carbon emissions annually.

The operating taxi fleet in the emirate consists of 11,371 vehicles by the end of 2022. A whopping 105 million trips were undertaken by taxis, covering over two billion km last year.