With a price tag starting from Dh70,000, a Dubai-based start-up company is offering to produce electric vehicles (EVs) made from repurposed cars at prices 50 per cent cheaper than newly-manufactured EVs, and deliveries slated to begin by second quarter of 2025.
Designed and engineered by Peec Mobility, a prototype of ReCar.03 – an EV sedan that used to be petrol-powered Toyota Camry – is being displayed at the ongoing five-day Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress and Exhibition at Dubai World Trade Centre.
“We’ve been developing our latest iteration of the ReCar for some time. We’re close to production with orders due to be delivered in Q2 2025, so this is a big step in the future of mobility as it allows us to share the ReCar with valuable customers,” noted UAE-born Zach Faizal, founder of Peec Mobility.
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The home-grown petrol-to-electric repurposed vehicle was first introduced during COP28 held in Dubai in December last year.
ReCar is made from an internal combustion engine (petrol- or diesel-powered) vehicle. It is cheaper than a newly-manufactured EV – which costs upwards Dh100,000 – because the technology used in repurposing retired petrol vehicles requires retaining their body and chassis before transforming them into electric vehicles. This translates to 30 per cent reduction in manufacturing cost and 80 per cent less manufacturing time than new versions.
The battery is the main lifeline of an EV, and Peec Mobility said their ReCar can run up to 300km on full-charge.
There is also a “new car” feeling with ReCar, minus the dangerous carbon emission. The car interior is also made from recyclable materials, and there is an updated HMI or human machine interface software application.
Cheaper alternative to EVs
Peec Mobility noted its mission is not only to extend the life cycle of retired petrol vehicles with electric engines, but also to offer individuals as well as public and private companies cheaper alternatives to environment-friendly vehicles.
“We want to reach the Net Zero goals (cutting of carbon emissions to a residual amount that can be absorbed by nature) by 2030 twice and faster,” noted Peec Mobility
Faizal earlier told Khaleej Times: “Our goal is to work with the government to implement this conversion at scale and create a replicable model from the UAE to the world. Our ambition is to support the UAE Net Zero goal.”
“Through our technology of repurposing vehicles, we can aim to reduce 23 per cent of emissions from the transportation sector by 2030 with implementing a policy to repurpose just five per cent of the existing vehicles on the road every year for the next (six) years,” he underscored, adding: “Nowadays, re-engineering is quicker, smoother and greener than buying new EVs, and proves cost-efficient.”
The number of EVs in Dubai is estimated to have reached more than 30,000 units as of April 2024, according to Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) based on the number of registered vehicles using EV charging stations across the city. This is a sharp increase from the 15,100 EVs reported at the end of 2023.
The UAE’s target is to increase the share of electric vehicles to 50 per cent of all vehicles on the roads by 2050.