logo
UAE's largest electric-only recharging station to open this year

UAE's largest electric-only recharging station to open this year

The National23-04-2025
The electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in the UAE is set for a boost later this year with the opening of a charging hub which will provide what has been described as a super-premium experience beyond standard stationary charging stands. Developed by UAEV, the country's dedicated EV charging company, the site is expected to be the first of its kind in UAE and will feature green landscaping, fountains and an automatic queuing system, combining sustainability with sleek user design. The hub is capable of servicing 20 EVs simultaneously and is expected to launch before the end of 2025. While further details of the hub will be unveiled at an official announcement expected in the next two months, The National can reveal that the first hub will launch in Ajman this year, with another to follow in Dubai in 2026. "This is a first-of-its-kind in the UAE," said Hicham Ezzahid, chief executive of UAEV, speaking at the Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit (EVIS) taking place this week in Abu Dhabi. Through the "flagship hub", Mr Ezzahid hopes to see EV charging become more of an experience than a utility. Heiko Seitz, global and Middle East eMobility leader at PwC, told The National that such experiential establishments are important in creating educational awareness. "People need to be aware that this is actually a positive product, a product that gives them a certain lifestyle, that gives them convenience," said Mr Seitz. Mr Seitz said such hubs will serve as a showcase for the industry, which could encourage further electric vehicle adoption. "They're going to be like flagships for the industry, where people see cars charging and say, 'that actually works. I can do that as well'," he said. "These things are important for the consumer, and they're an important blueprint for other investors. And, other charge point investors will want to follow suit." The hub is part of UAEV's broader goal to install 1,000 public charging stations able to cater to varying numbers of vehicles across all seven emirates by 2030. More than 95 per cent of these are planned to be high-speed units, with next-generation ultra-fast chargers capable of delivering a full top-up in as little as 10 minutes in newer electric vehicle models. Currently charge time can vary, depending on the vehicle and charging station, from 18 minutes to eight hours. In 2024, UAEV rolled out 120 new charging ports across the northern emirates. This year, another 200 ports are planned, mainly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. To support electric vehicle adoption, UAEV has signed a new agreement with AW Rostamani Group, the automotive distributor behind Chinese EV brand Zeekr and the modernised Smart car line-up. Under the partnership, new buyers of Zeekr and Smart vehicles will receive charging credits redeemable across UAEV's network. Mr Seitz said this strategy is seen in Tesla models in the US, which offer free supercharging to encourage adoption. In December, UAEV announced that it had set tariffs for the faster Direct Current (DC) chargers at Dh1.2 per kilowatt-hour, and for Alternating Current (AC) chargers at Dh0.7 per kilowatt-hour. Sandeep Arora, director of strategy and business excellence at AWR, said the deal reflects a market that is rapidly moving towards an EV tipping point. "If you look at the global trends, there is always a tipping point when the acceptance of electric cars increases. We believe that tipping point is the moment one fifth of the cars sold in the market are electric cars," he said. "Electric car numbers have grown by five times in the last five years. We believe the tipping point – where EV adoption really takes off – is just a couple of years away." Electric vehicle penetration in the UAE started to take off in 2023, with a sharp increase in the number of EVs making up the number of cars on the Emirates' roads to 11 per cent in 2023, up from 3.7 per cent the previous year. "We already have close to 150,000 electric vehicles on the roads of UAE." said Mr Seitz. Launched in May 2024, with an initial capital investment of Dh60 million, UAEV's primary purpose is to develop and expand a fast and accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Range anxiety, the term which refers to fears about how far a vehicle can travel without running out of battery, and the time it takes to charge a vehicle, remain the two main barriers on the way to EV adoption. Mr Ezzahid told The National that the company's strategy is not just to increase the number of stations, but to distribute them evenly enough to eliminate range anxiety. Both Mr Ezzahid and Mr Arora agree that the electric vehicle market in the UAE is moving faster than expected, and that electric vehicles could make up 30 per cent of cars on the roads ahead of the government's 2030 target. Mr Seitz, meanwhile, notes that the market has already reached a certain level of maturity. He adds that mass adoption will come when more charging infrastructure is rolled out.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump says he wants Musk and his companies to thrive in US
Trump says he wants Musk and his companies to thrive in US

Zawya

time11 minutes ago

  • Zawya

Trump says he wants Musk and his companies to thrive in US

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not destroy Elon Musk's companies by taking away federal subsidies and that he wants the billionaire tech-entrepreneur's businesses to thrive. "Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!," Trump said in a social media post. "I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE." Trump's statement follows a public clash with his former close ally on June 5 over his tax bill. Musk warned Tesla investors on Wednesday that U.S. government cuts in support for electric vehicle makers could lead to a "few rough quarters" for the company. A week after the spat in June, Reuters reported the White House had directed the Defense Department and NASA to gather details on billions of dollars in SpaceX contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies. Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win November's presidential election and led the Department of Government Efficiency's chaotic effort to slash the budget and cut the federal workforce. The Tesla CEO left the administration in late May to refocus on his tech empire. Trump and Musk fell out shortly afterward when Musk openly denounced the Republican president's tax-cut and spending bill, leading to threats by Trump to cancel billions of dollars worth of federal government contracts with Musk's companies. Musk's SpaceX had been considered a frontrunner to build out Trump's $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense shield and remains a natural choice for key elements of the project. But sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week that the administration is expanding its search for partners to build Golden Dome as tensions with Musk threaten SpaceX's dominance in the program. (Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Philippa Fletcher)

China's BYD to assemble EVs in Pakistan from 2026
China's BYD to assemble EVs in Pakistan from 2026

Gulf Today

time2 hours ago

  • Gulf Today

China's BYD to assemble EVs in Pakistan from 2026

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD plans to roll out its first car assembled in Pakistan by July or August 2026 to capture growing demand for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the region, a company executive said on Wednesday. BYD, the world's top EV maker, has been expanding rapidly outside its home market, where it is in a strong price war. The Pakistan plant addresses rising demand from emerging markets and allows the company to take advantage of incentives offered by the Pakistani government. The plant has been under construction since April near Karachi in a partnership between BYD and Mega Motor Company, a subsidiary of Pakistani utility Hub Power, Danish Khaliq, vice president of sales and strategy at BYD Pakistan, told Reuters. It would initially have the capacity to produce 25,000 units a year on a double shift, he said. He did not elaborate on when the plant would achieve full capacity or say when mass production would begin there. The plant will start by assembling imported parts, with some local production of non-electric components, Khaliq said, adding it would initially produce vehicles for the domestic market, with potential to export to right-hand drive countries in the region depending on freight costs and business economics. 'We do not foresee excess capacity in our system as demand in Pakistan will catch up,' he said. BYD started delivering imported EVs in Pakistan in March. Khaliq did not give an exact sales number but said the sales of a few hundred cars had exceeded internal targets by 30%. Khaliq said he expected the market size of EVs and plug-in hybrid cars in Pakistan to grow three to four times in 2025 from around 1,000 total units in 2024. BYD is targeting a 30-35% share of the segment, Khaliq said. Based on a HUBCO filing, BYD Pakistan made around 444 million rupees ($1.56 million) in profit in the 2025 March quarter. BYD will launch its Shark 6 plug-in hybrid pickup truck in Pakistan on Friday. China's MG already sells a PHEV SUV, while rival Haval is set to join the segment soon. Plug-in hybrids offer a more practical option in Pakistan as the country faces a lack of charging stations for all-electric vehicles. The government slashed power tariffs for chargers by 45 per cent in January to encourage EV uptake and private charging stations. Reuters

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store