JEDDAH: Saudi nationals show a strong appetite for owning electric vehicles, says a report published by Kearney.
The consulting firm conducted a survey which showed that 15 percent of those surveyed plan to own an electric car in the next three years.
It showed that while 80 percent of the Saudi nationals own at least one gasoline-powered car, 28 percent of the people surveyed believe that electric vehicles will become increasingly common in future.
Both hybrid and electric vehicles sold in Saudi Arabia last year amounted to less than 3 percent of the total new vehicles sales.
While 33 percent of the respondents believed that the availability of more charging stations would increase their interest in buying electric vehicles, 23 percent believed that the provision of more information on EVs and the government’s fee exemptions could make electric cars more appealing.
This comes amid the Kingdom’s efforts to boost the sales of electric vehicles in line with the Vision 2030 program and after the announcement of the Saudi Green Initiative earlier this year that aims to reduce carbon emissions by more than 4 percent of the global contributions.
Saudi Arabia launched its plan to boost the prevalence of electric vehicles in October. The Kingdom aims to ensure EVs make up 30 percent of the total cars by 2030.
“The KSA’s ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality, along with the development of smart city projects such as NEOM, make it well positioned to accelerate the implementation of the required infrastructure to enable the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and autonomous mobility solutions,” said Helmut Scholze, partner, transportation, mobility and logistics at Kearney Middle East.
