Copper’s recent rally to record-highs has sent waves of concern reverberating through the makers of several consumer-focussed and industrial products such as electric vehicles (EVs), consumer gadgets and appliances, electric wires and engineering goods, among others.

Futures of the metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME), the benchmark for global prices, hit an all-time-high of $14,779 per tonne on September 8. While prices have marginally declined from that high, they remain elevated. At the time of writing Wednesday afternoon, copper futures were trading about 0.9% higher over its previous close at $14,167.67 per tonne.

Prices have rallied in the past couple of weeks as purchasers in the U.S. rush to stock up on the metal, anticipating President Donald Trump’s imposing steep tariffs on the import of refined copper.

This apprehension compounds the fact that the global economy is already navigating lower copper production in the first half of the calendar year.

India imports about 85% of its copper requirements. The cascading effect on profit margins is expected to be particularly acute for industries where copper is irreplaceable.

Cost pressures, no replacement

Copper wire manufacturers, including Finolex, Polycab and Havells, hiked prices early September seeking to mitigate some of the cost pressures.

Mahesh Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer of Finolex Cables explained the upward trend of copper prices in the last one year has forced necessary market-wide pricing realignments across the electrical manufacturing sector.

“The initial brief trade-level destocking only reflected short-term inventory recalibration. However, the demand in power and construction sectors ensured complete absorption of the prices,” he said.

Copper is widely regarded as the ideal base material in the wire manufacturing industry because of its ability to withstand heat and being a good conductor, among other things, thus, making it difficult to place an alternative.

The same conundrum exists in the electric vehicle industry.

According to Ajay Sharma, Director-General and CEO of the Electric Vehicle Industry Alliance (EVIA), EVs use “about 3-4% more copper” than traditional combustion vehicles.

Mr. Sharma observed rising copper prices would induce pricing pressures.

He said though the industry is seeking a transition to wider use of aluminium to cut costs and make the vehicles further lighter, copper cannot be entirely replaced.

“Aluminium offers 61% of electrical conductivity of copper, thus, aluminium conductors need to be 1.6-times larger to carry the same electrical load,” he explained.

Cascading to consumer electronics, engineering goods

Makers of consumer appliances and gadgets are also keeping a close eye on copper, especially ahead of the festive season.

The same paradigm extends for engineering goods manufacturers.

Jayakumar Ramadas of Mahendra Pumps observed copper prices have become “unreasonable.”

Sanjay Chitkara, Director & Co-Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, LG Electronics India told The Hindu, “We are closely monitoring input costs and evaluating pricing in a calibrated manner, while balancing cost pressures with consumer affordability and the competitive environment.”

Although, he exuded confidence about the upcoming festive season that commenced with Onam in August to carry forward a strong momentum that centred on “good sell-out and healthy channel stocking”.

Saket Singh, an executive at Chennai-based chip design firm Aheesa, told The Hindu that there may be a price adjustment in the electronics manufacturing industry, but that it may not be a significant sum.

Supplies under pressure

A spokesperson at the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) told The Hindu that the global copper market is currently experiencing tightness in mine and concentrate supply, with production constraints in some major producing regions, including Chile, putting further pressure on overall availability.

“During the first half of 2026, global copper mine production and concentrate output were lower than in the corresponding period last year. At the same time, demand from power infrastructure, electrification, data centres and other industrial applications continues to support the market,” said the industry body.

FIMI noted that uncertainty over potential U.S. tariff measures on refined copper has also influenced global trade flows.

It has led to additional copper flows into the U.S. whilst bothering availability in other markets, it said.

“For India, these developments can increase the landed cost of copper. In addition to international prices, higher freight costs, vessel constraints and, where already there, longer or rerouted shipping routes will add to the delivered cost,” said the spokesperson.

Price arbitrage not working

FIMI further observed that the resulting regional price differentials have affected physical arbitrage flows between major copper futures markets, including the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SFE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

“While price differences normally encourage physical movement between markets, tariff expectations and regional supply conditions can temporarily redirect these flows and widen regional price differentials,” it observed.

FIMI added that these developments underline the importance for India of diversifying copper supply sources, strengthening domestic production and recycling, and developing resilient international supply chains to manage supply disruptions, trade-related uncertainty and elevated logistics costs.

(With inputs from Aroon Deep, Soundariya Preetha and Haider Ali Khan)

Published – September 16, 2026 08:58 pm IST

The Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is in talks with China’s SAIC Motor to increase its stake in their joint venture, JSW MG Motor India, as the group looks to expand its presence in the Indian automobile sector.

“We are talking to them, so it’s between shareholders right now. Again, I won’t comment on how much because it’s all under discussion at this stage,” JSW MG Motor India Director Parth Jindal told journalists in Mumbai on Wednesday.

According to reports, JSW Group is seeking to increase its stake in the joint venture by around 10%. JSW currently holds 35%, while SAIC Motor owns 49%. The remaining stake is held by Indian institutional investors, employees of JSW MG Motor India and the company’s dealers.

Indian entities, including JSW Group, acquired a majority stake in the erstwhile wholly China-owned MG Motor India two years ago.

Plans major expansion

Apart from JSW MG Motor India, the group is setting up a separate automobile company, JSW Motor Ltd, which will focus on manufacturing electric vehicles. JSW Group is also in discussions with Skoda Auto Volkswagen India for a potential acquisition of a majority stake.

“Nothing has happened yet. It’s still premature for me to say anything about that,” Jindal said when asked about the talks.

If the proposed transactions materialise, JSW Group would emerge as a significant player in India’s automotive industry, with investments across three entities and a portfolio spanning multiple brands.

Pumps ₹3,500 crore

JSW MG Motor India is investing around ₹3,500 crore following the change in ownership, with the investment programme expected to be completed by the end of calendar year 2027.

By then, the company expects both the Windsor and Hector Tomahawk models to achieve around 70% localisation, positioning the company as a leading player in new-energy vehicles in India, Jindal said.

A portion of the investment is also being used to expand manufacturing capacity at the company’s Halol plant in Gujarat.

The plant currently has an annual capacity of 110,000 vehicles. This is expected to rise to 160,000 units by March and further to 220,000 units by January 2028. The facility can eventually be expanded to produce up to 400,000 vehicles annually.

“On top of our investment, our vendors are investing close to Rs 2,500 crore as well. So, overall, there is about a Rs 6,000 crore investment that is being made due to JSW MGI’s requirement, partly by our vendors and partly by us,” Mr Jindal said.

Hector Tomahawk EV and PHEV

JSW MG Motor India on Wednesday introduced the Hector Tomahawk in electric vehicle (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) variants.

The EV is being offered under the battery-as-a-service (BaaS) model at an introductory price of ₹13.99 lakh, ex-showroom, with a battery rental charge of ₹4.90 per km. The vehicle, including the battery, is priced between ₹19.49 lakh and ₹23.49 lakh, ex-showroom.

The EV has a claimed range of more than 500 km on a single charge. Bookings have opened, with deliveries scheduled to begin in September 2026.

The PHEV is priced at an introductory ₹21.79 lakh under the BaaS model, with a battery rental charge of ₹3.20 per km. The fully priced vehicle, including the battery, costs between ₹25.69 lakh and ₹27.79 lakh.

Deliveries of the PHEV are scheduled to begin in November 2026. The company claims a combined driving range of 1,100 km on a full tank of fuel and a fully charged battery.

Push for lower PHEV taxation

“The introduction of the Hector Tomahawk EV and the Hector Tomahawk PHEV, India’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), reflects our commitment to offering a diverse portfolio of new-age mobility solutions that address evolving customer needs and driving patterns,” he said adding the government should bring down the tax rate on PHEV to the level of EVs for faster adoption.

Anurag Mehrotra, Managing Director, JSW MG Motor India, said, “The future of mobility will not be shaped by a single technology, but by giving customers the freedom to choose the solution that best meets their needs. With this vision in mind, we recently introduced ADAPT, India’s first multi-new-energy-vehicle platform, as the foundation for our next generation of products.

“Today, the Hector Tomahawk becomes the first SUV to bring that vision to life. By offering both EV and plug-in hybrid technologies, we are democratising sustainable mobility while addressing the diverse requirements of Indian consumers,” he added.

Published – August 26, 2026 07:20 pm IST

Lying at the foothills of the Mao mountains in southern China, the Temple of King Ashoka is one of the main attractions in Ningbo, a port city in southern Zhejiang Province, around 200 km south of Shanghai. Hymns fill the courtyards of the massive temple complex, which is largely empty on a busy weekday.

The temple’s history goes back more than 1,700 years, when it was built during the Western Jin Dynasty. It is one of the 19 Ashoka stupas constructed in China as Buddhism spread. In Ningbo, Buddhist culture, coupled with a long tradition of maritime commerce, has been an important part of the city’s history since the 7th-century Tang Dynasty, when it emerged as a major port.

Also Read: How is China leading the green energy sector?

Today, the city has emerged at the heart of a different kind of global commerce. It is a key hub for China’s booming Electric Vehicles (EV) industry, where new energy automotives are manufactured in sprawling, modern factories and then exported around the world.

‘A future factory’

“The future is our history,” reads the sign above the entrance to the factory of Zeekr, a high-end EV brand headquartered in Ningbo and part of the Chinese automaker, the Geely Auto Group. Geely also manufactures Volvo Cars, having acquired the company from Ford in 2010, and luxury Lotus autos, after garnering a controlling stake in the British automaker in 2017. EVs have become central to Geely’s future. The group sold close to 1.7 million EVs in 2025, a stunning 90% rise from the previous year.

In China, Zeekr is the group’s flagship product in this space. Zeekr’s cars that roll off the assembly line in Ningbo are transported across China and shipped to Europe and Southeast Asia, its two biggest overseas markets. The Ningbo plant, company representative Zhang Ting said, has been dubbed “a future factory”.

It is not hard to see why. The factory floor is a scene out of Star Wars. Automated yellow robotic transports that look like toy cars whizz around the factory floor. One beeps in protest as it brushes up against my feet. Frames of yet-to-be-completed EV cars descend from massive yellow platforms onto the assembly line, where the only humans on site are inspectors checking them for flaws. “Around 60-70% of the work is done by robots,” Zhang said. There are still some 2,300 people working in this factory, where the EVs are assembled into their final form. The welding factory, also in Zhejiang, is completely autonomous.

A dashboard notes that as of 4 p.m. on a recent afternoon, 366 cars had rolled off the production line, somewhat below the maximum daily capacity of 1,300. The reason, one Zeekr executive explains, is an intended nimbleness. The quick turnaround time allows the company to follow a model where it only manufactures cars for which it has already received a confirmed order.

Zeekr’s “future factory” was the result of a 10 billion RMB ($1.47 billion) investment. At every turn, the emphasis is on “green”. One live dashboard measures the factory’s carbon footprint at any given minute, including the electricity and water use per vehicle, and the savings from a waste heat recovery system designed to be energy-efficient. This year, the savings have so far amounted to the equivalent of the annual gas consumption of 736 Chinese households.

On top of the ‘green charts’

Going green appears to have become an obsession in Zhejiang, a province in China’s southern manufacturing heartland that played a key role in the country’s reform and opening-up period starting in the 1980s.

Wang Hao, an official from the provincial government, reels off statistics showing the Province at the top of China’s ‘green charts’. Zhejiang’s PM 2.5 particulate air pollution fell last year to an average slightly under 25 — “like Europe,” another official said. Last year, the Province notched two other landmarks: renewables, for the first time, accounted for 50% of total installed energy capacity; and 100% of the surface water met national standards, following a massive campaign to crack down on industrial waste.

Also Read: Will China capture the electrolyser market? | Explained

Across the city from the sleek Zeekr factory is a symbol of Ningbo’s past — the towering smoke stacks of the Ningbo Iron and Steel Company, or Ninggang, one of China’s oldest and biggest steel producers. Local officials cite the company’s story as a snapshot of China’s green transition — and how Beijing spent billions in overhauling older polluting industries and holding them to stricter emission standards.

At Ninggang, around 4 billion RMB ($588 million) was spent on “more than 100 emission renovation projects,” Yang Zhenzhu, a representative of the company, said. Many of these were aimed at reducing emissions and more efficiently recycling the wastewater from steel production. Today, the company hosts visitors from companies around China, who come to study it as a model of change.

The first stop on the Ninggang tour for visitors, who are separated from burning hot furnaces carrying golden, molten iron by thin glass walls, is an elaborate water treatment arrangement. All of the water that is used is recycled, coming from the city’s major wastewater treatment plant. This water is piped to Ninggang’s own treatment station for further treatment, and the excess is desalinated and reused. Zero solid waste is allowed to leave the factory. Waste containing iron and carbon is treated at another treatment facility and reused.

Pollution remains a serious problem in China. Even in Beijing, despite the undeniable progress — “airpocalypse” days that were regular in the winters of Beijing a decade ago are now far less common — maintaining clean skies is a continuing battle. One clear takeaway from Zhejiang is that the green transition neither came easily nor for free. Indeed, it required serious and sustained investment on the one hand, and no-nonsense policing and enforcement on the other.

Corruption is rarely spoken of in the context of pollution. Yet, Chinese officials often point to how, in the past, lax enforcement was a huge challenge. Bribes to local officials to look the other way were a common phenomenon. But a crackdown on corruption over the past decade has changed that. It is much harder for polluting factories to pay their way out of punishments for violating standards, while “big data” is being deployed to track factories in real time.

If investment and enforcement have been two key pillars of China’s green transformation, technology is a third. Chinese companies making EVs, batteries, and solar panels are in an apparent unending race to come up with technologies that are more efficient and cheaper. Technology, more than cost, explains China’s dominance of the global EV market, He Xiaopeng, who is the founder of another Chinese EV player, Xpeng Motors, a competitor of Zeekr’s, said. “Meaningful competition lies in capabilities, technology and systems. It is not only about price,” he said.

China accounted for around 60% of all global EV sales, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global EV Outlook 2024. Its dominance in batteries is starker, with China controlling 76% of global lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing, giving its firms a major cost advantage, according to Bloomberg data. Solar photovoltaics are a similar story. To give a sense of the scale, China in 2023 commissioned as many PVs as the rest of the world did, according to the IEA. China’s overwhelming presence in the critical minerals industry underpins its dominance of supply chains, with the country processing 90% of rare earth elements, and 60-70% of lithium and cobalt, which are key for manufacturing batteries.

Indeed, China’s proposition to the world is “a complete supply chain”, Qian Zhimin, who is Deputy Director of China’s Committee on Population, Resources and Environment, said.

For Chinese policymakers, the ongoing crisis in West Asia has only further driven home the urgency of green transformation and the advantages of diversifying energy sources. “Today, energy security and green transition are converging,” Qian said. “The recent tensions [in West Asia], and the tensions we are seeing in maritime routes like the Strait of Hormuz, mean traditional energy systems continue to face strong external shocks. So, the green transition is now a practical choice to enhance energy security and self-reliance in a complex external environment. And China offers a complete supply chain,” he said.

Impact on the world

If China sees its “complete” supply chain as a strategic advantage, for the rest of the world, dependence on China in these industries of the future is a cause for concern. China’s cost competitiveness and technological edge may be enablers of green transformations, but the other side of the equation is the enormous impact of Chinese imports on companies in these sectors around the world that are struggling to stay afloat. The European Union (EU) is a case in point.

The EU, along with Southeast Asia, has more than any other region opened up to Chinese EV and renewable energy companies. China’s exports, warned a February 2026 report from an advisory body to the French government, were “affecting the core of Europe’s industrial strongholds: automotive, batteries, industrial equipment, chemicals, and others.”

“On average, nearly a quarter of European exports is currently exposed to Chinese competition that we deem critical,” it said. “On the domestic market, up to 55% of European manufacturing output could be threatened over the medium term if current trends persist. This proportion varies significantly across countries: it reaches around 70% in Germany, 60% in Italy, 50% in Spain and 36% in France,” the report added, noting that in 2024, the EU imported €11.1 billion worth of solar panels, €2.9 billion of liquid biofuels, and €0.5 billion worth of wind turbines from extra-EU countries, totalling about €14.5 billion in imports of green energy products. China accounted for 98% of these imports.

Fearing the prospect of “accelerated deindustrialisation”, the report said the cost gap estimated by European companies with regard to China was 30-40%. It cited PVs as an early indicator of what may come in other sectors. Since the mid-2000s, when China began massive investments in solar, its growth has led to “a near-monopoly situation for China in photovoltaics” with market share “exceeding 80% across all segments of the value chain.”

Leadership on climate change

For much of the Global South, however, China is seen as offering the prospect of an affordable green transformation — a proposition that, many countries note, the West has been unable to compete with, even as the U.S. withdraws from global leadership on climate change.

“China is a leader in this area not for no reason,” Fazeel Najeeb, who is the Maldives Ambassador in Beijing, said. He was recently in Ningbo along with the country’s Minister of State for Climate Change, Environment and Energy, Mohamed Faiz, at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation green forum convened by China, reflecting its global ambitions in the sector. “China’s leadership is undeniable, whether or not others are withdrawing from issues such as climate change that have a huge bearing on countries like us.”

The Maldives, for instance, is clear about seeking opportunities from China, including for its landmark RasMale project, an initiative pushed by President Mohamed Muizzu, which envisages building a zero-carbon safe island on 1,153 hectares of reclaimed land.

“We are requesting China to work with us to make this island a future city powered by renewable energy entirely, with electric cars and no fossil fuels. Right now, we spend around 33% of our GDP on fossil fuels. We would like to change this,” Najeeb said

The Maldives is among the many countries in the midst of energy shortages. The Iran crisis, Qian notes, has driven home the lesson that renewable energy “reduces vulnerability to fluctuations in international oil price and enhances economic resilience.” He points out that coal still accounts for 52% of primary energy consumption in China and 56% in India. “The fact is that energy security and green transition are not a binary choice for us,” he said, “but a strategic pathway on which both complement each other.”

Oil storage tanks and facilities of a Sinopec plant in Shanghai, China. Photo for representational purpose
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari addresses the ‘20th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2025’, at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi, on October 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

In the last episode, my colleague and host of Climate Economy, Kunal Shankar, spoke about the shifts underway in India’s transport sector, as it attempts to decarbonise. One among the many places where this transition is likely to be felt most is Coimbatore. That’s because this district is home to many of the smaller firms that form part of the automobile sector’s value chain catering to Internal combustion engine vehicles.

Coimbatore is one among the leading supply chain clusters in the country for the auto sector. Its journey as a component manufacturer for automobiles started almost six decades ago led by the foundries that made castings, factories that manufactured motors, and the demand from automobile majors in Tamil Nadu. 

In a district where streets of one or two room workshops, called micro or cottage industries, contribute to the economy, are there job losses, job shifts, or new jobs as the industries prepare for the transitions in the mobility sector? Is there adequate funding available for the MSMEs? Are these units plugged into the latest developments in technology? Let us drive into the auto clusters to understand better what’s happening on the ground.

Script & Presentation : Soundariya Preetha

Video & Editing: Shibu Narayan

New Delhi:

Kartikey Hariyani, the founder and CEO of Electric vehicle (EV) charging network Charge Zone, while speaking at NDTV World Summit 2024, explained why switching to EV makes Sense.

“In India, the purpose of an EV or a car is for personal mobility. 80 percent of the mobility requirement of an Indian consumer is less than 51 k a day. So, with this stat, EV becomes a natural choice for adoption but it also (poses) a question whether the cost makes sense. Then as an individual consumer, you will say I don’t need an EV or the payback is not really attractive,” he said.

Mr Hariyani, however, insisted that “there is good news around”.

“Two developments have happened in the industry so far. In the last two quarters, the cost of the battery has come down by half. The second good news is some of the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have initiated battery as a service which means battery and charging will effectively becomes your fuelling system. So, what you are going to buy will be a car without the battery cost, it means (it would be) equivalent to the cost of a petrol car,” he said.

Mr Hariyani stressed that one has to think through carefully in terms of how the recharging networks will be planned.

“For each of the EV segments, the industry players have started investing into this. Six years ago, standards got built into this. Later on, local ecosystem played a big part. Localisation did happen in terms of semiconductors as well as power electronics. Today we are ready with the chargers, localised both for three wheelers and four wheelers,” he said.

He also said that even though fast-charging is a key for adoption of EVs but it’s not just about cars but also buses and trucks.

“For a charging company like us, when we started off in 2019, there were green sprouts around electric cars coming into the market, then electric buses started coming. And today we see the launch of electric trucks. As a priority, I will enable inter-city mobility. In other words, charging infra on highways is our priority number one. We have electrified 33,000 kms of highways in India. Fast-charging is a cornerstone. But, if I invest into fast-charging only for cars, I won’t be able to make money even in my whole life time. Inter-city buses and inter-city trucks are going to be the biggest enablers,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the importance of clean energy for a better future, stating that “clean energy is the need of the hour”.

At COP26, India committed to reducing projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. These commitments necessitate a rapid transition to renewables.

New Delhi:

Kartikey Hariyani, the founder and CEO of Electric vehicle (EV) charging network Charge Zone, while speaking at NDTV World Summit 2024, explained why switching to EV makes Sense.

“In India, the purpose of an EV or a car is for personal mobility. 80 percent of the mobility requirement of an Indian consumer is less than 51 k a day. So, with this stat, EV becomes a natural choice for adoption but it also (poses) a question whether the cost makes sense. Then as an individual consumer, you will say I don’t need an EV or the payback is not really attractive,” he said.

Mr Hariyani, however, insisted that “there is good news around”.

“Two developments have happened in the industry so far. In the last two quarters, the cost of the battery has come down by half. The second good news is some of the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have initiated battery as a service which means battery and charging will effectively becomes your fuelling system. So, what you are going to buy will be a car without the battery cost, it means (it would be) equivalent to the cost of a petrol car,” he said.

Mr Hariyani stressed that one has to think through carefully in terms of how the recharging networks will be planned.

“For each of the EV segments, the industry players have started investing into this. Six years ago, standards got built into this. Later on, local ecosystem played a big part. Localisation did happen in terms of semiconductors as well as power electronics. Today we are ready with the chargers, localised both for three wheelers and four wheelers,” he said.

He also said that even though fast-charging is a key for adoption of EVs but it’s not just about cars but also buses and trucks.

“For a charging company like us, when we started off in 2019, there were green sprouts around electric cars coming into the market, then electric buses started coming. And today we see the launch of electric trucks. As a priority, I will enable inter-city mobility. In other words, charging infra on highways is our priority number one. We have electrified 33,000 kms of highways in India. Fast-charging is a cornerstone. But, if I invest into fast-charging only for cars, I won’t be able to make money even in my whole life time. Inter-city buses and inter-city trucks are going to be the biggest enablers,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the importance of clean energy for a better future, stating that “clean energy is the need of the hour”.

At COP26, India committed to reducing projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. These commitments necessitate a rapid transition to renewables.

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For Hamed al-Rafidain, a Saudi human resources worker, an electric vehicle offers welcome savings, especially since his other car is a fuel-guzzling four-wheel drive favoured by motorists in the desert kingdom.

The 39-year-old is part of a small but growing EV consumer base in Saudi Arabia, which hopes to become a hub for the technology as it seeks to diversify its economy away from oil.

Although the EV market in the world’s largest oil exporter remains small compared with the United States and China, it tripled last year to nearly 800 cars, according to Saudi business news outlet Al-Iqtisadiyah.

“What drove me to buy an electric vehicle was financial considerations,” said Rafidain, who spends up to 2,000 riyals ($530) a month on fuel for his off-road vehicle.

“Maintenance costs are also lower compared to a conventional vehicle, with no oil changes and no brake-pad replacements,” he added, pointing to the engine-free storage space under the hood of his new car.

Chinese EV giant BYD is expected to dominate the Saudi market. Its global rival Tesla of the United States has no dealerships in the Gulf kingdom.

With eight million residents, Riyadh experiences traffic jams that contribute to high pollution levels.

Rafidain said he chose an EV because of environmental concerns, noting electric vehicles “help reduce global warming in cities”.

For a little over $53,300, he bought a BYD that he mostly uses for short trips within the capital.

EV challenges

A lack of charging infrastructure and Saudi Arabia’s vast size mean that many view their EVs as suitable for shorter trips, rather than replacements for conventional vehicles.

Using an EV for travel outside the city was a “gamble, especially since the infrastructure is still underdeveloped”, Rafidain said, noting the range of current batteries is only about 400 kilometres (250 miles).

While BYD and Lucid install charging stations directly at customers’ homes, the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Company (Eviq) is working to place them elsewhere, aiming for 5,000 across the country by 2030.

EV prices remain high in Saudi Arabia, where fuel costs are lower than in most countries, with a litre of petrol costing $0.62.

A vehicle from Lucid, which opened a factory in Jeddah last year after a billion-dollar Saudi investment, costs $92,000, but the arrival of BYD is expected to make EVs more affordable.

Industry expert Hossam Iraqi said EVs are less popular among Saudis owing to their size and performance in extreme heat.

“Most current electric vehicle production is small to medium-sized, which does not suit the needs of large Saudi families,” he said, adding the Gulf region’s extreme heat has an impact on battery efficiency.

Saudi surge

Salesman Hassan Mohammed expects strong EV sales this year, as demand grows at home and abroad.

“More than one car brand has opened its doors in the kingdom and now offers after-sales service, which has encouraged consumers,” he said at an exhibition in northern Riyadh, where Saudis test-drove cars.

Al-Iqtisadiyah reported in April that Saudi Arabia imported only 779 EVs in 2023, up from 210 the previous year, citing official Saudi statistics.

The country is also ramping up domestic production.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, PIF, now controls 60 percent of Lucid and has secured a deal with South Korea’s Hyundai to establish a plant in the kingdom for both EVs and petrol-powered cars.

Additionally, Saudi EV brand CEER, launched in 2022, plans to start production in 2025.

Earlier this year, Saudi Industry Minister Bandar al-Kharif said the country was aiming to produce 300,000 EVs annually, without giving a timeline.

Riyadh, targeting carbon neutrality by 2050, was also in talks with battery producers, he said.

For now, some still prefer hybrid vehicles, which use both batteries and petrol to go longer distances.

“The balance between electricity and gasoline is economical and convenient,” said Omar el-Shami, a 43-year-old Egyptian pharmacist, as he charged the car he bought for his wife.

“Things may change in the future,” he said.