My kids play with LEGOs and work together to assemble puzzles, which is pretty normal stuff, but as far back as he can remember, clean energy enthusiast Ben Hill grew up playing with solar cells. His father was one of the founding fathers of today’s photovoltaic industry, Robert Hill, so that shouldn’t be surprising, but those early years set the trajectory for the rest of his life.
The Electric Vehicle Road Trip (EVRT) Middle East tested the limits of today’s electric vehicles in a region of the world that would not be at the top of the list for EV adoption. This year, EVRT Middle East took participants up to the top of the highest peak in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to put the participating vehicles to the test in the Regeneration Challenge.
The Electric Vehicle Road Trip (EVRT) was created with the simple goal of raising awareness of electric vehicles by touring them around various parts of the world where EVs are not finding traction. The oil- rich Middle East is one such region — which should come as no surprise, since oil is providing the economic fuel for much of the region.
YallaMotor, the Middle East’s largest and fastest-growing automotive portal, has announced a strategic partnership with Global EVRT to better understand electric vehicle buyers — their opinions, perceptions and purchasing intentions in the region.
The Sultanate of Oman faces many regulatory challenges and see similar emerging macro trends as the rest of the globe, in addition to additional geographic hurdles, consumer preferences, current availability and variety of electric vehicles and uncertainty regarding the economics, TCO, leasing options, and business case.
But the opportunities presented by an accelerated shift to electric mobility are also great.
This is the question that Global EVRT’s groundbreaking eMobility Forum Dubai seeks to consider on January 24 as it brings together key leaders, influencers, and decision-makers from business, industry, and government to accelerate the transition to electric mobility.
In this second part of a 2-part series, Global EVRT participants share insights and expertise into urban mobility for future sustainable communities.
The 2018 Global EVRT tour was designed to demonstrate that people in the United Arab Emirates could drive anywhere they want in the electric cars available today. It ended at The Sustainable City in Dubai after more than 1200 kilometers of emissions-free driving.
After a week of driving electric cars in the United Arab Emirates, I came away with some opinions about the Tesla cars and the Chevy Bolt. Your mileage may vary. See dealer for details.
New chargers in Fujairah, UAE, were part of the Middle East 2018 Global EVRT’s effort to expose new people to EVs.
