Charge your car and zoom away
Dubai to have 100 charging stations for electric vehicles by 2016, says Dewa chief
dubai — Electric car enthusiasts can buy or rent them by 2016 with Dubai gearing up to be home to 100 stations that will make charging these zero-emission cars easy on the go.
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has chalked out a plan to set up 100 charging stations around Dubai in two years, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa, said in an interview with
Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the 16th Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (Wetex 2014) which began on Monday.
“We are in discussions with our partners for this initiative. Our partners are mainly developers like Emaar, Dubai Holding, Nakheel, Silicon Oasis and the RTA (Roads and Transport Authority),” he said, giving an update on the initiative announced as part of the “Smart Dubai” concept introduced by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
“The locations (of the stations) will be selected after discussions with the partners. This has to be based on their future plans also as this is not a short-term project,” said Al Tayer. The initiative puts Dubai as the first in the region and promotes the emirate’s role in energy sustainability. “We are also working with an international consultant to put in place a strategy for this work,” said Al Tayer, who is also the vice-chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy.
Though electric cars do not need the normal maintenance works re- quired by the internal combustion cars, charging is a big concern. According to an employee of Green Car Rental that leases out electric and hybrid cars, a fully charged electric car can go up to 250km if driven at a speed of 60kmph. “But in a place like Dubai, you don’t drive at that speed and you cannot take your electric car for long drives unless you can get it charged midway.”
Charging from home or office will take double the time than the eight to 12 hours for fully charging the cars from a solar station. Hence, solar powered charging stations will definitely be a welcome move, he added.
Talking about the plan to allow households to generate solar power, Al Tayer said Dewa was moving in the right direction for implementing the plan in the coming years. “We already have a very clear road map for this. We had started a pilot project for smart grid three years ago to make sure we are using the right technology (to support the plan).”
Al Tayer pointed out that Dubai is well prepared to meet the energy and water demands for hosting the World Expo 2020 with excessive supply of power and water and over Dh20 billion investment in the energy sector.
The Green Week, that runs parallel to the exhibition, is aimed at encouraging sustainable living and promoting a culture of conservation among the public, especially the young generation. For the first time, Wetex also has a SmarTech Shopper edition where consumers can buy energy efficient appliances at reduced rates.
geneva — Global commerce is set to grow by 4.7 per cent this year, the World Trade Organisation, or WTO, said on Monday, with recovery in rich economies expected to mitigate risks in developing nations.
The WTO previously had forecast that trade would expand by 4.5 per cent in 2014, up from an estimated rate of 2.1 per cent in 2013.
So the latest forecast points to substantially more than a doubling of the growth achieved last year.
Trade is a key measure of the health of the global economy which it both stimulates and reflects.
Asia will continue to fuel growth rates, the WTO said, although China’s exceptionally strong expansion is slowing. In addition, Europe and North America’s recovery is also set to be a key driver on both the import and export fronts.
“For the last two years trade growth has been sluggish. Looking ahead, if GDP forecasts hold true, we expect a broad-based but modest upturn in 2014, and further consolidation of this growth in 2015,” WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told reporters.
The WTO predicted that trade growth would pick up pace next year, reaching 5.3 per cent.
“Prospects for world trade and output in 2014 and 2015 are better than they have been for some time, but leading economies remain fragile, including some of the most dynamic developing countries that until recently were propping up demand,” the WTO said in a statement.
“Downside risks to trade abound, but significant upside potential also exists, as the US economy seems to be gaining momentum and the European Union appears to have turned a corner,” it said.
“At the same time, developing economies have slowed apprecia- bly, for a variety of reasons both internal and external. Which of these forces is stronger may determine how world trade evolves over the next one to two years”.
WTO economists noted that a growth rate of 5.3 per cent in 2015 would bring trade growth back to its 20-year average.
For the past two years, growth has averaged only 2.2 per cent.
WTO economists said that the 2014 forecast was based on an assumption that global GDP would expand by three per cent.
“Risks to the trade forecast are still mostly on the downside, but there is some upside potential, particularly since trade in developed economies is starting from such a low base,” the WTO said.
“However, volatility is likely to be a defining feature of 2014 as monetary policy in developed economies becomes less accommodative,” it said.
The WTO said that risks had receded in Europe thanks to an easing of the eurozone crisis, and in the United States owing to the easing of brinkmanship over budget limits and tax policy between the Obama administration and the Republicans which led to last year’s government shutdown.
Concerns in developing economies include large current account deficits in countries such as India and Turkey, currency crises in some countries including Argentina, overinvestment in productive capacity, and rebalancing economies to rely more on domestic consumption and less on exports.
The WTO also pointed to geopolitical risks, which it said could provoke higher energy prices and disrupt trade flows if they escalate.
The 158 economies which make up the WTO set trade rules among themselves in an attempt to ensure a level playing field and spur growth by opening markets and removing trade barriers, including subsidies, excessive taxes and regulations. —