Mohamed AL Musleh, the manager of the engineering laboratories at the University's Dubai Campus, is a passionate advocate of sustainable transport, and has put his money and his transport where his mouth is, undertaking a radical transformation of his own car to underline his ideals to students, visitors to the campus and his local community.
Converting a normal car
He took a normal, petrol driven car and converted it to be fully electric, driven by a three phase induction motor so that it does not produce any emissions and has a range of about 50Km per charge. Keeping the battery charged is helped by a solar battery charger on the front of the car, taking advantage of Dubai's abundant sunlight.
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Hand applied silver foil covers the bodywork reflecting excess heat and reducing the need for air-conditioning. To counteract the car's now-silent engine Mohammed added an optional 'jet-engine roar' which can be switched off for silent environmental friendly running or on to alert people of the car's approach.
The final touch is a small, live lawn planted on the car boot with photosynthesis actually consuming CO2, a major contributor to global warming, and producing oxygen.
Mohammed uses the green car to travel to work as well as displaying it at the campus to colleagues and student, prospective students and visitors.
I wanted the car to be an unusual design in order to increase awareness and highlight the different ways our everyday actions can contribute to the green agenda.
He said, "I wanted the car to be an unusual design in order to increase awareness and highlight the different ways our everyday actions can contribute to the green agenda.
"I'm not suggesting that everyone should drive electric vehicles, or have grass on the top of your car, but I do want people to realise that any small step towards energy saving today is going to save the planet in the future. This might be a familiar message to people in the UK, but in Dubai, with a petrol price of about £0.3 it is not."
The conversion itself took Mohammed only about three weeks, after a year to finalise the design and source the components. He has worked on classic cars in the past but says that this project is the one which carries a vision for the future and is closest to his heart.