With electric vehicles (EVs) set to become more accessible to drivers around the world – and solid growth trends attracting public and private investment – several emerging markets are looking to expand their EV manufacturing capacity. EV uptake is essential to the global energy transition, as transport remains the industry with the highest reliance on fossil fuels, producing an estimated 37% of CO emissions from end-use sectors in 2021. The number of passenger EVs on the road is expected to triple globally by 2030 to over 77m, according to strategic research provider BloombergNEF.
New Brands
Although China currently dominates EV manufacturing, accounting for 57% of global output in 2021, several emerging markets have announced plans to jump-start domestic production. In March 2022 El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Company (NASCO) signed a shareholders’ agreement with the National Automotive Company to establish Egypt’s first EV distributor, with the first EVs produced by NASCO hitting the market in 2023. That month NASCO signed a memorandum of understanding with Valeo Egypt, a subsidiary of the French automotive supplier of the same name, to design, develop and produce EV components.
Private players are also seeking to support the EV goals of North Africa’s most populous country. Shifting his investment from social media to green projects, Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour announced plans in November 2022 to produce 15,000 EVs in Egypt over the subsequent three to five years via his company Al Mansour Automotive. Meanwhile, in February 2021 Brightskies, an Egyptian company specialising in EVs and power systems, signed an agreement with NASCO and the Engineering Automotive Manufacturing Company to produce the country’s first electric buses.
Indonesia’s EV market is expected to expand substantially over the coming decades to meet the demands of its growing population. The country targets the production of 600,000 EVs by 2030, while also aiming for such vehicles and related components produced in Indonesia to comprise 60% of all EVs sold by 2027. The aim is to have 13m electric motorcycles, and 2.2m new and retrofitted electric cars on the road by 2030. As part of these efforts, in June 2021 the government announced that Indonesia would sell only EVs by 2050, with all motorcycles to be electric by 2040 and all cars by 2050.
Turkey has also joined the foray into EV manufacturing. In the first four months of 2024 more than 20,200 units were sold, while more than 65,500 EVs were sold in total in 2023. Domestic EV manufacturer Togg accounted for more than 7100 of the vehicles sold in the first four months of 2024, with the company aiming to produce 1m vehicles annually by 2030.
Upgrading Infrastructure
Alongside manufacturing growth, the global charging industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 34.5% in 2022-30, as governments encourage the construction of EV infrastructure and award large-scale contracts. Additionally, the expansion of ride-sharing services and micromobility options could help drive EV uptake as an alternative to car ownership in urban environments.
The UAE, which boasts one of the biggest charging station-to-vehicle ratios in the world, plans to increase the number of EVs on its streets to 42,000 by 2030. Under way since 2015, Dubai’s EV Green Charger initiative aims to boost the number of charging stations in the UAE to meet expected demand; as of 2024 there were over 380 charging stations installed across the country. The Middle East and North Africa’s first EV and battery logistics centre opened in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone in 2022. It was designed to bolster the regional EV circular economy by providing an area where batteries can be stored, repaired, recycled or processed.
In late 2021, meanwhile, Egypt offered private sector players a 40% share in a new company established to oversee pay-to-use charging stations. At the time a total of 3000 charging stations were in the works, the first of which were set to be launched in Alexandria and Cairo.
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