Commercial vehicles in the UAE are switching to natural gas as a more economical and environment-friendly alternative to petrol and diesel.
Al Nabooda Automobiles is spearheading the change and expects to have at least 500 trucks running on gas within the next six months.
The company announced at the inaugural Middle East Commercial Vehicles Show, ending a four-day run at Dubai Autodrome today (Thursday, Nov 30), that it will open six gas filling points across the UAE to service the first wave of change.
The gas points will be located at existing filling stations and the network will expand to keep pace with market demand.
Al Nabooda has spent nine months researching and implementing the project and has set up dedicated conversion workshops at Rashidiya in Dubai.
The first 10 trucks from the company’s own 1400-strong commercial fleet have been converted to operate on natural gas and will take to the roads within the next few weeks.
“The process has been lengthy and comprehensive, but now we have all the official approvals to go ahead commercially and pioneer the switch to compressed natural gas,” said Raghvinder Grotra, the company’s brand manager (commercial vehicles).
Conversion costs between 7,000 and 9,000 dirhams but this is recovered in 18 months through the economies achieved from lower cost per litre, better mileage, and reduced maintenance bills.
Converted vehicles can still run on diesel or petrol if necessary.
“With petrol and diesel prices on the rise, and the need to protect the environment by reducing emission levels, we believe that natural gas is the fuel of the future,” said Grotra.
He expects the trend to accelerate as more fleet operators take advantage of Al Nabooda’s specialist conversion workshops and the benefits of natural gas,
“The Middle East Commercial Vehicles Show was the ideal platform to announce the launch of the project,” he said. “Especially as we are hosting Rainer Zietlow from Germany who is touring 29 countries in six months in a gas-powered Volkswagen to promote the fuel and earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
“Here we have a captive audience of everyone who matters in the regional transport industry.”
More than 60 exhibitors took part in the show, with the world’s leading manufacturers and their Middle East agents and distributors showcasing everything from trucks and buses to trailers, attachments needed by Dubai’s booming construction, transportation and logistics industries, as well as the special-purpose items such as ambulances, fire-engines, and armoured security vehicles.
They included: Belhasa Motors, Renault, Al Ghanim & Sons, Tata Motors, Higer King-long, Al Futtaim Motors, Mammut, Bison, Iran Khodro, Gulfcoen, Voith Turbo, Caterpillar, Al Dobowi, Wah Fai, Ocean City, Shac, Naffco, Supertech, Al Ghandi, Gulf Oil, Al Nabooda Automobiles, Eicher, and many other international brands.
Thousands of visitors attended over the four days of the event. “Obviously, Dubai and UAE were particularly well represented in view of the intense demand for commercial vehicles, but we also had visitor registrations from across the Gulf and the wider Middle East as well as the Indian sub-continent and CIS countries,” said Kavita Dabrai, project manager at organizers Zenith Events.
“With Dubai undergoing such phenomenal expansion, the demand for commercial vehicles has never been greater. The time was right for a show such as this as we can see by the fantastic response from exhibitors – and from users who want to see the latest models from around the world.”
