Dubai:

Curious car enthusiasts may well be asking where will new electric cars coming into the UAE be charged when owners are out driving in public?

Dubai officials say they are working on it.

Since 2014, for example, as many as 100 new public charging stations are now in place across Dubai under the Green Charger Initiative in cooperation with the Supreme Energy Council as well as Dubai Carbon.

That number should double by the end of 2018, said Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water (Dewa), in September at the launch of a new incentives programme.

“Dewa is currently working on installing 100 more charging stations to bring the total number to 200 in 2018. Dubai Government has set the tariff for charging electric vehicles by Green Chargers at a cost price of 29 fils per kilowatt hour. This is a significant saving compared to fuel-powered cars,” Al Tayer said yesterday. “Due to these efforts, the electric car sector has grown by about 30 per cent between 2014 and 2016.”

Study has suggested that Dubai could see the sale of electric cars surge to 32,000 by 2020 and 42,000 by 2030, Al Tayer said.

The cost to charge is markedly cheaper as well for electric cars versus traditional petrol cars, he said.

According to Al Tayer, for a small-sized EV Renault he said it cost Dh7 to fill versus Dh120 for gas for a similar petrol car.

For a Tesla vehicle, it can cost on average Dh29 per full charge compared to up to Dh200 for petrol in a traditional car.

Tesla, meanwhile, has seen the installation of more than 26 Tesla Destination Charging stations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where a second Tesla service centre is set to open in 2018. The company said it expects to open a further 50 charging stations by the end of this year.