Noting the cost savings, improved fuel efficiency and reduced maintenance, Dubai plans to have more than 200 hybrid taxis on its streets by the end of the year.
"A hybrid vehicle performs at its optimum in heavily congested traffic," the chief executive of the RTA’s Dubai Taxi Corporation, Ahmad Al Suwaidi, said, according to The National.
"This is because at slower speed only the electric motor propels the vehicle."
Suwaidi said that there were currently 177 hybrid taxis in Dubai. He added that the costs and fuel consumption on average were about 30 percent less per hybrid vehicle per year.
The Dubai Taxi Corporation currently owns 69 hybrid taxis and plans to add 30 more by December. Car Taxi, another government-operated service, recently increased its hybrid fleet to 100.
However, according to Car Taxi's website, the company has over 1,500 vehicles operating in Dubai while Dubai Taxi Corporation's fleet has more than 3,800 total vehicles. Thus, the increase to some 200 hybrid taxis will still be less than 4 percent of the total fleet.
Many other global cities have made efforts in the last few years to add more hybrids to their fleets with cities such as San Francisco and New York City leading the global trend . Both of these American cities have converted their fleets to around 50 percent hybrid vehicles.
With the United Arab Emirate's recent increase in fuel costs, hybrid vehicles are definitely one way Dubai can focus on savings.