Dubai to test new types of electric, hydrogen-powered public buses

Dubai to test new types of electric, hydrogen-powered public buses

Dubai: A number of partnerships have been forged recently to boost sustainability in Dubai’s public transport, including testing of a bus driven by electricity and hydrogen fuel. Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) witnessed the signing of three collaboration partnerships with specialised global bus manufacturers. The agreements were made on the sidelines of the 64th UITP Global Public Transport Summit held in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this month. The three agreements were signed by Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of Public Transport Agency, RTA; Till Oberwörder, Head of the Division Daimler Buses and Chairman of the Management Board EvoBus GmbH; Dan Pettersson, Senior Vice President Business Unit Chassis, Volvo Bus Corporation; and Richard van den Dungen, Commercial Director, VDL Bus and Coach B.V. The first of these agreements establishes a collaboration with German firm Daimler Buses and calls for the testing of a first-of-its-kind bus driven by electricity and hydrogen fuel to assess its viability in Dubai’s specific climatic conditions. The second agreement with the Swedish automaker Volvo marks the start of Phase II of testing Volvo’s electric buses under Dubai’s operational conditions. The third agreement involves Dutch company VDL and