The UAE government has rolled out a series of plans to make EVs reach remote areas
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the non-oil-rich Gulf nation is taking massive strides in investment projects for infrastructural development, customer response, and government policies to boost the electric vehicles (EV) sector. These have proved to be a success owing to the increased sales of EVs. The major hindrance that still exists is the question of the battery range.
Range anxiety as called in the market is a problem all across the world. Drivers fear being stranded at a deserted place, getting struck midway to their office, and similar concerns. This prevents EVs from becoming a full-fledged daily commute option for people.
People living far off from the main city like in Sharjah, have a constant headache to avail charging facilities. Distant areas still don’t have charging facilities. Most offices are located in the main city of Dubai which has charging networks, but what about back at home? The UAE government has rolled out a series of plans to make EVs reach remote areas.
A Dubai resident Ekta Bhojwani bought an EV last year, her purchase was backed by the increasing charging network infrastructure throughout the city. She said that her purchase was delayed by almost a year because of the absence of charging stations and living in an apartment, but she finally took a leap and has no regrets now. Bhojwani got herself a Tesla Model 3 which has an approximate range of 300 km and is suitable for city uses, requiring her to charge only twice a week.
The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) had set a goal to increase electric vehicle inclusion to almost 50% on the roads by 2050. This was in addition to Dubai’s goal of having 42,000 EVs running on the roads by the end of this decade.
Such measures have pulled UAE to the 8th position on the global electric mobility readiness index just the previous year. As per a report by Arthur D. Little, the CAGR for the UAE’s EV market is estimated at 30% from 2022 to 2028.
This growth is the result of government projects like the Global EV Market launched to improve incentives for buyers to opt for an EV. This will boost investments in UAE’s electric charging network and penetrate widely from commercial buildings to highway truck rest stops.
Naser Alhabi, the director of the latest Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit (EVIS) in Abu Dhabi said that according to the official records of MoEI, UAE registered 20,000 EVs last year. This number is expected to cross the 100,000 mark by the end of 2025 and reach nearly 1 million by the end of this decade.
Albahri highlighted that the growth was fueled by the government’s willingness to push EVs and curb the challenges like unavailability of charging points and subsidising to reduce the costs. Albahri and Bhojwani admitted that a lack of charging facilities stands as a major hindrance to the growth of EVs.
Arthi Srinivasan, the director of EV Charging Solutions at Powertech Mobility, a company dealing in EV charger distribution and system integration in UAE, said that the global problem of electrification is the presence of power infrastructure. The UAE has been actively working towards minimising these challenges by incentivising appropriate stakeholders in improving their gridlock network and seeking out other sources of energy like energy storage systems and solar energy.
Srinivasan added that the improvement of electric facilities is a time-consuming task and will require dynamic efforts to make sure that the charging infrastructure is relevant to the future EV adoption rates and to ensure that range anxiety is not a problem anymore for businesses and consumers while going for an EV.
Shift in thought process
The Road and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai has undertaken a task to convert 90% of the Emirates’ limousines (like Uber & Careem) to cleaner vehicles like hybrid or electric by the year 2026. Currently, there are only 9% of green limousines and work is undergoing to increase it to 90% in the upcoming couple of years.
Expensive EVs were also a major challenge for consumers while purchasing a green vehicle. This got tackled by BYD, a Chinese car manufacturer that has brought a range of vehicles in more affordable price ranges.
The EV market trajectory in the UAE is similar in some ways to Europe. Over there EVs rolled out first and electric infrastructure caught up later on. After the improved availability of charging stations, another challenge comes up of accessing these points as commercial enterprises are rapidly catching up with the green revolution and end consumers are suffering due to these car rentals, etc said Salman Hussain, co-founder and CEO of UAE-based startup FUSE, an engineering company converting classic cars into EVs.
