Drivers of electric cars in Dubai will be the envy of their petrol-head counterparts as a new initiative starting on Wednesday allows them to charge up their vehicles free of charge.
Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), the regulatory body for Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), the free zone technology park, on Wednesday announced the launch of its new initiative that allows electric vehicle owners to use the charging stations on its premises at no cost from Wednesday until the end of the year.
As part of its aim to encourage people to buy or rent zero-emission electric cars, DSOA said the charging stations can now be used by the public free of charge, around the clock, seven days a week.
The first DSOA electric charging station was inaugurated last year.
The latest initiative follows a series of projects implemented by the authority in line with Dubai Clean Energy Strategy that promotes energy efficiency while reducing operational costs with the ultimate objective of shaping Dubai into a city with the smallest carbon footprint in the world by 2050.
“We are keen to support the vision of our wise leadership to transform Dubai into a sustainable and environment-friendly city by reducing carbon emissions,” said engineer Muammar Al Katheeri, the executive vice president of engineering and smart city at DSOA. “A pillar of our business model, sustainability allows us to contribute to strengthening the emirate’s position as a leading global example for achieving the highest standards in environment conservation.
“DSOA will continue to develop environment-friendly programmes and initiatives in order to raise awareness about the concept of sustainability among the public.”
Dubai Silicon Oasis currently has three electric vehicles charging stations at its premises, each of which can charge up to two vehicles at once. Aiming to increase the count to seven by 2018, DSOA also continues to develop Green Charger, an electric vehicle charging station infrastructure initiative launched by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).
In addition, the authority recently introduced four electric vehicles, used by on-ground security patrols within DSO. DSOA also received recently two Golf GTE plug-in hybrid models from Al Nabooda Automobiles, the official distributor of Volkswagen in Dubai and the Northern Emirates for use by engineering management and smart city team within DSO.
DSOA said it has already surpassed the goals set for Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030 in reducing its cumulative energy consumption by 31 per cent.
Dubai’s Carbon Abatement Strategy aims to develop an effective framework to curb Dubai’s carbon footprint. In 2015, the city succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than five million tonnes, a decrease by approximately 9 per cent, which beats the seven per cent mark.
A wholly-owned entity of the Government of Dubai, DSO operates as a free zone technology park for large enterprises as well as medium and small companies looking to set up their offices in Dubai.
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