All public transportation in the country will be fully electric by 2030.

All Karwa taxis around Doha will soon be fully electric in the country’s latest effort to switch to eco-mobility in public transport.

Hybrid electric vehicles come with a built-in self-charging system and are powered by a combination of highly efficient, low emission gasoline engines and electric motors. 

“Karwa has set out to green mobility for less emissions and cleaner air. This eco-friendly fleet will further reduce our carbon footprint on the streets of Doha, and it is yet another stepping stone on the way to our zero-emission goal,” said Fahad Saad Al Qahtani, CEO, Mowasalat (Karwa).

To move the automobile, a hybrid car uses at least one electric motor and a gasoline engine, with the system recovering energy through regenerative braking. The electric motor does all of the work at times, the gas engine does it other times, and sometimes they both work together.

The Karwa taxis, however, will run exclusively on electric power when it is starting, stopping, or in slow motion. When braking or decelerating, kinetic energy from the wheels is converted into electricity, which is then stored into the car battery. 

This means when traffic slows down the taxis, the car battery gets charged, making it optimal for driving in Doha.

The electric automobiles will make a huge contribution to improve the air quality in the Gulf nation. The vehicles create no carbon dioxide emissions when driving thanks to the absence of tailpipes. This significantly minimises air pollution.

In fact, just one electric car on the road for a year can save an average of 1.5 million grammes of CO2. That’s the equivalent of four London-Barcelona round-trip flights.

Karwa’s latest efforts aims to encourage the adoption of sustainable transportation solutions and the reduction of harmful carbon emissions to meet Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

“We will further place our emphasis on innovative technologies, and an extension of our Taxi fleet with fully electric vehicles is already in the pipeline. We see this as one of our key contributions to the Qatar National Vision 2030,” he added.

Cleaner energy, better environment

In recent years, Qatar has put enormous efforts into opting for more eco-friendly options. The nation also plans to provide safe, dependable, and accessible transportation for the FIFA World Cup 2022, with electric buses serving as the primary mode of transit.

Just last year, authorities announced its plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 25% by 2030 as part of its ‘Climate Change Action Plan.’ The country’s public tranportation also plans to go fully-electric by the same year.