Buzz in the Gulf is electric!

Electric carmaker Tesla announced the opening of a new Gulf headquarters aiming to conquer the oil-rich region better known for gas-guzzlers than environmentally friendly motoring.

Elon Musk, the co-founder and chief executive of the American firm seeking to revolutionise the electric car market, attended the launch of a regional sales push. “The time seems to be good to really make a significant debut in this region, starting from Dubai,” he told the World Government Summit which took place last week in the emirate.

Dubai’s official media office said that Mr Muskhad  met Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VicePresident and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who welcomed Tesla’s decision to set up its regional headquarters in the city state.

Sheikh Mohammed has instructed local authorities to provide Tesla ‘with the services and logistic support’ it needs, said its media office. The company is already gearing up to become the latest taxis available in the country.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed an agreement with Tesla to purchase 200 electric vehicles, fitted with several components of autonomous driving. According to Tesla, the RTA will purchase Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.

The new vehicles will add to the limousine fleet of the Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC). The Model X is said to be the safest, fastest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history. With all-wheel drive and a 100 kWh battery providing 295 miles of range, Model X has ample seating for seven adults and all of their gear.

And, it’s ludicrously fast, accelerating from zero to 60 miles per hour in as quick as 2.9 seconds. It is part of an aim to transform Dubai into the world’s ‘smartest city’ and support its Green Economy for Sustainable Development initiative.

Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, added: “It is also part of the Dubai Smart Autonomous Mobility Strategy aimed at transforming 25 per cent of total journeys in Dubai into autonomous journeys by 2030.”

Tesla announced last year plans to build self-driving technology into all its electric cars. “My guess is probably that in 10 years it will be very unusual for cars to be built that are not fully autonomous,” Mr Musk said.

Tesla Motors, founded in 2003, is based in California. It specialises in electric cars and their powertrain components and also produces batterycharging equipment. The company first gained widespread attention following its production of the Tesla Roadster, the first electric sports car, in 2008.

Its cars came under scrutiny last year after a Tesla driver was killed in a collision with a truck in the US when it was on autopilot, as reported in Motoring Weekly, a system that allowed it to keep itself in a lane, maintain speed and operate for a limited time without a driver doing the steering.

Tesla said that the white trailer was not easy for the car’s cameras to distinguish from the bright Florida sky. The crash occurred on a sunny Saturday afternoon. However, technological improvements have addressed this scenario, the makers stated.

Self driving vehicles, it says, will now play a crucial role in improving transportation safety and accelerating the world’s transition to a sustainable future. Full autonomy will enable a Tesla to be ‘substantially safer than a human driver, lower the financial cost of transportation for those who own a car and provide low cost on-demand mobility for those who do not’, it claims.

Tesla’s recently launched its most affordable car yet, the Model 3, starting at around BD13,000, which can achieve 346km of range per charge.

MEANWHILE, the demand for gas guzzlers continues. Ford plans to expand its line-up of sport utility and crossover vehicles to 13 models from seven by 2020, according to company officials and supplier sources, in response to rapid growth in SUV sales. At least three of those future models have been approved for production in the past two years, sources said. Other companies, including General Motors and Fiat Chrysler are also directing more investment towards SUVs and trucks, industry executives said.
Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president of US marketing, sales and service said the marque would be introducing five new SUVs by 2020. Supplier sources said separately that a sixth new model would carry the Lincoln badge. This autumn, Ford will launch a redesigned 2018 version of its large Expedition SUV, which competes with the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban in one of the most lucrative market segments in the global car industry. GM’s lineup of large SUVs dominates the segment.

AND, there’s still a push to go greener. A supermarket has become the first retailer in Europe to use a new type of tank that keeps trucks motoring on fuel made from food waste for 500 miles, almost twice the current average. The longer driving range - capacity had held back earlier green fuel options - could entice more business to turn to low-emission lorries and help fight global warming. “We will be able to make deliveries to our stores without having to refuel away from base,” Justin Laney of the John Lewis Partnership, which runs the UK’s Waitrose
grocery chain and had a short-lived presence in Bahrain. Gas provider CNG Fuels said the upmarket grocery chain had added 10 trucks to its fleet, all powered by renewable biomethane gas, which emits 70 per cent less carbon dioxide than diesel. Biomethane gas is made from food waste, which is also a source of greenhouse gases. The lorries, manufactured by Swedish truck maker Scania, can run longer on the green fuel thanks to a carbon fibre tank that is lighter and holds more gas, the companies said in a joint statement.