The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that it will shortly embark on the trial run of electric buses (powered by batteries) where the battery can be recharged up to 80 per cent in less than 30 minutes.
The bus can cover up to 200km with a full battery at a speed of 100km per hour. The RTA will coordinate with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) about future steps regarding the infrastructure of electric vehicles.
Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said: “RTA will embark on the pilot operation of electric buses to assess the associated environmental benefits, measure the rate of reduced carbon emissions, identify the distance covered by the bus following each battery recharge … ability to cope with the UAE climatic conditions, particularly during summer, and maintenance costs among others.”
RTA had also embarked on a trial run of hybrid vehicles (operated by fuel and electricity) as part of the Dubai Taxi fleet in 2008.
This year the RTA has carried out 32 energy conservation initiatives and eight green economy support initiatives that are expected to achieve savings of about Dh17 million.
In June 2008, RTA initiated the pilot operation of 10 hybrid environment-friendly vehicles of Chevrolet (Tahoe and Malibu brands) powered by fuel and electricity. During the pilot period, the authority measured the ability of hybrid vehicles’ batteries to withstand the excessive heat of the region, lifetime of batteries and the percentage of fuel saving made. The authority also tentatively used a number of hybrid vehicles of Toyota brand and the results of the pilot operation showed that test vehicles covered more than 550,000 kilometres without experiencing failures or major maintenance issues in major components.
Fuel efficiency improvement amounted to 33 per cent, and carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 33 per cent as well. For instance the normal vehicle needs about 12½ litres of petrol to cover 100km, while the hybrid vehicle needs around 8¼ litres to cover the same distance. Carbon dioxide emissions of the normal vehicle are estimated as 182 kg per day, whereas carbon dioxide emissions generated by the hybrid vehicle measure about 121kg per day.
Eco-friendly buses
Steps have been taken to curb air pollutants such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide resulting from operation of public buses and abras through improvement in designing, constructing and operating seven electric traditional abras, and using low sulfur diesel (50 ppm), whereas the fuel used at the local markets has sulfur content ten times of the fuel used in RTA public buses; which in turn is released in a form of environment-polluting emissions.
The aging fleet of public buses has been replaced by buses compatible to Euro IV- V specifications, and the RTA embarked on using engines fitted with tools to curb nitrogen oxides emissions (selective catalyst Reduction- SCR), and engines fitted with techniques for curbing hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. These initiatives contributed to minimising hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions generated by transit means where the amount of carbon monoxide emitted by a private vehicle user (in case of being compatible with Euro 4 specifications at best) is about six times of the counterpart using public buses, and two-folds the amount of hydrocarbon of the counterpart using RTA buses.
In July 2012, the RTA launched the Energy Bus which applies the latest green technologies in public transport industry. The Green Bus uses Biodiesel B05; which contains five per cent of recycled edible oil, and this small percentage is capable of cutting carbon emissions by as much as 78 per cent. The bus also uses solar power for powering internal lights and uses LED power-saving lights. The green bus has tyres manufactured using recycled tyres, seat covers made of recyclable materials, and floors made of an organic environment-friendly material.
Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?section=transport&xfile=data/transport/2014/November/transport_November5.xml
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