Saudi Arabia plans to invest in EVs
Riyadh hedges its bets with EV ambitions
The Saudi government is leaving little to chance in plans to create an EV-manufacturing cluster on the Red Sea coast
Saudi Arabia is hedging its bets with plans to develop a domestic automotive industry by investing heavily in electric vehicles (EVs), despite the risks posed by the sector to the business of state oil giant Saudi Aramco identified in the firm’s annual report last year. Riyadh’s enormous financial resources—bolstered by soaring revenues from selling Aramco-pumped crude—are ultimately behind what it portrayed as a major international vote of confidence in the country’s EV potential. In February, California-based Lucid formalised plans to set up a manufacturing plant at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), on the Red Sea coast north of Jeddah. The deal was said to be a condition of a $1bn inves
Also in this section
14 January 2025
Bioenergy will be a key part of the energy transition as the world decarbonises, and Brazil is set to be a major player in the sector
14 January 2025
The region has ample resources of both gas and renewable energy and developing both will be vital to the global effort to reduce emissions
13 January 2025
The region’s fast-growing economies stand at a pivotal juncture, with the opportunity to drive a sustainable growth strategy that will keep the world’s net-zero ambitions alive
10 January 2025
Global energy demand keeps rising, and digital technology will play a crucial role in both meeting that demand and doing so in a sustainable way
