This country to build affordable EVs in a bid to shift towards electric mobility

Egypt has tasked a state-owned company with building affordable electric vehicles for the country in collaboration with a Chinese firm by using their renewable energy boom to power them. This is the country's effort to encourage its citizens to adopt electric vehicles.

Authorities are in contact with three potential companies to seek partnership for El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Co. for the project that will get an investment of 2 billion pounds, said Public Enterprise Minister Hisham Tawfik, Bloomberg reported. However, Tawfik did not divulge any names. Production of the electric vehicle is set to start in 2023 and the authorities are aiming to increase the output to 20,000 units per year over next three years.

The minister also said that the country's electric model will either be named E70 or A70 and its price will be set at $20,000, making it affordable. The pricing will be similar to Europe’s cheapest EV - Renault’s made-in-China Dacia Spring. Half of the buyers of the affordable electric model could probably be taxi or Uber drivers.

The private sector will also be offered a 40 per cent role in a new company established to operate pay-to-use charging stations which will be 10 per cent owned by El Nasr and the remaining half will be taken by ‘state entity,’ said Tawfik. Around 3,000 charging points will be established around the cities of Cairo and Alexandria before being introduced anywhere else.

The minister also added that Egypt now produces all kinds of clean energy. “This means we have the infrastructure to leap into the future with the automotive industry," he added. Early this year, Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Dongfeng Motor Co. to build EVs, though it got expired and wasn’t renewed, informed Tawfik.

Brightskies Inc., an Egyptian company, has also signed a deal with state-owned Engineering Automotive Manufacturing Co. to develop and produce electric buses and minibuses from 2022. The minister further added that the country will also look at making hydrogen-powered EVs in the longer term.

The initiatives come as Egypt prepares to host the COP27 climate summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh next year.