RIYADH (Realist English). In the Middle East, interest in environmentally friendly alternatives to automobiles with an internal combustion engine is slowly growing. Car manufacturers are striving to bring more models of electric vehicles to the market every year, according to the Saudi edition of Arab News.
Saudi Arabia aims for at least 30 percent of its cars to be electric powered by 2030, following its pledge to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060.
Last year, EV manufacturer Lucid announced a long-term plan to build the first international manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, targeting 150,000 vehicles per year at the King Abdullah Economic City.
Meanwhile, the UAE is pushing for 42,000 EVs to be on its streets within the next decade. To meet the rise in demand for green mobility, the UAE opened its first electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Dubai Industrial City last month, built at a total cost of $408 million. The facility is expected to produce 55,000 cars per year.
There is strong competition for a share of the GCC region’s EV market, with brands such as Tesla leading the charge and others including BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz in close pursuit.
Growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade, the global EV market was valued at $370.86 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach over $1.2 trillion by 2027.
Additionally, global sales of EVs have more than doubled to $6.6 million in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency, with green mobility making up 9 percent market share of the global car industry. This is more than double the share it commanded in 2020 and triple of what it had in 2019.
