TEHRAN – A new model of dual-fuel taxi was unveiled in a ceremony on Tuesday.

The unveiling of the Soren Plus dual-fuel taxi was held in line with the implementation of the contract for the manufacturing of 45,000 dual-fuel taxis and vans.

The Soren Plus dual-fuel taxi with safe design and convenience will be available to consumers from the beginning of the next Iranian calendar month Mordad (July 23) by replacing Samand taxis.

Holding nearly 18 percent of the global gas reserves, Iran is one of the most hydrocarbon-rich areas in the world, and the country’s giant South Pars gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, is by far the world's largest natural gas field.

Despite having abundant natural gas resources, the Islamic Republic is also one of the world’s leading gasoline consumer countries, and a great part of the country’s 100-million-liter gasoline output is used inside the country, while the exports of the mentioned fuel can be an excellent source of income for the country and less gasoline consumption would also mean less air pollution and a cleaner environment.

Tackling this issue, the Iranian government has been promoting the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a replacement for gasoline over the past few years and has declared the CNG the country’s national fuel.

Following the above-mentioned declaration, in December 2019, the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) and Iran’s state-owned Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to add new dual-fuel vehicles to the country’s public transportation fleet.

The mentioned MOU was signed following a resolution by the Government Economic Council that targeted adding 1.46 million dual-fuel vehicles to the public transportation fleet.

Now, over two years after the beginning of the said program, about 200,000 vehicles have become dual-fuel and 350 million liters of gasoline are saved, according to a member of the country’s CNG Industry Abscission.

“In the last two years, conversion of about 200,000 vehicles to dual-fuel has resulted in a saving of 350 million liters in gasoline consumption, and it is expected that higher savings will be achieved with the full implementation of the Government Economic Council’s resolution in this regard,” Navid Khaseh-Baf said in a press conference in late May.

MA/MA