Commercial EVs are landing in the GCC: Dubai’s Admiral Mobility will bring 5k electric commercial vehicles to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to a statement. Admiral Mobility — the Dubai-based distributor of Chinese Geely EVs — entered an agreement with Geely’s new energy commercial vehicle brand Farizon Auto to sell 500 electric lorries by 2Q 2023, with an additional 2.5k lorries sold over the following 2-3 years. In 2024, the company will deliver 2k Farizon Electric SuperVans.

The EV industry is heating up in the UAE: Anglo-Indian transport conglomerate Ashok Leyland expressed interest in assembling EVs at Ras Al Khaimah last September, and M Glory Holding Group announced plans to open a USD 408 bn EV manufacturing plant with the capacity to produce 55k EVs annually. EV company NWTN Motors partnered with Sultan Investments to establish an EV assembly base in Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi.

KSA has its eyes set on a similar path: Saudi Arabia’s first EV company, Ceer — a JV between the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group — secured a site for its USD 96 mn EV factory in the King Abdullah Economic Center last month, with plans to sell EVs in Saudi Arabia by 2025. The PIF also invested USD 1 bn in the US-based luxury EV manufacturer Lucid Motors, which will produce 155k vehicles annually by 2025 and 80% of Lucid’s EVs in Saudi Arabia by 2030.