Ekar offers Tesla drives at AED 1 per minute, in partnership with Masdar City
Ekar has partnered with Masdar City to introduce five Tesla electric vehicles (EV) to the fleet in the sustainable hub of Abu Dhabi. It has purchased these five Tesla models, namely models S and X for its fleet.
Vilhelm Hedberg, the Chief Executive Officer of ekar Middle East told SME10X that the Tesla electric vehicles will be available for hire from 3 p.m. GST onwards today. He also revealed that the EVs will be available for AED 1 per minute and cost AED 1,440 per day, depending on the rental option chosen.
While they are only available in Masdar City, Hedberg revealed that they are available for the general public instead of giving restricted access to private networks.
When one registers on the ekar mobile application, they are given the option to choose the group in which they belong, namely, ‘general public’, ‘Private - Emirates Airline Staff’, ‘Private - Etihad Airline Staff’, and ‘Private - Masdar City’.
Our vision at ekar is to have five percent of our fleet electric by 2020, to be fully electric by 2025, and fully autonomous by 2030.Vilhelm Hedberg, CEO of ekar Middle East
He added, “In order to achieve this goal, it is crucial to align with innovators, such as Masdar, a global clean energy pioneer and a company that is actively demonstrating how the business community can deliver on the sustainability agenda."
This is a brilliant first move to introduce Tesla on a car-sharing platform, giving more people access to the electric vehicles, along with the opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint; all while testing out the market for the feasibility of electric vehicles.
Hedberg explained in the statement saying, “The carbon emissions footprint of an electric vehicle is half that of a fossil fuel-powered vehicle when the lifecycles of the vehicles are compared, and most electric cars in the market can be integrated with our car-share technology.”
Masdar has been at the forefront of sustainability in the UAE, and we hope the success of these five Tesla cars in Masdar City will soon see more of them being rolled out across the country; especially since there are plans to install more charging stations across the UAE. Currently Dubai has 100 charging stations while Abu Dhabi has 50.
The news of Tesla comes on the heels of ekar’s partnership with CAFU, who will ensure the car-sharing platform’s fleet always has a full tank of fuel for its customers.
We are excited to see the car-sharing model become more common in the coming future, especially with attractive driving options on the streets. Not only are they better for the environment as they reduce carbon footprint, are more efficiently used, and reduce traffic, but also because they are much more affordable and accessible to the people.
