In 2024, Ford Motor (F) plans to introduce its first electric vehicles in the Middle East. The manufacturer anticipates substantial outcomes from growing its zero-emission offering in the area, according to a Bloomberg article.
In the Middle East, Ford is debuting its first electric automobiles
Ford hopes to maintain its momentum in 2023 after moving up to the second-largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the US last year after selling over 61,000 EVs.
According to Chris Noel, managing director of Ford Middle East, Ford will first introduce its EVs in six nations in the Persian Gulf before expanding further in the region.
The Middle East is a “really important region,” according to Noel, and the launch of Ford EVs is “doing incredibly well,” he adds.
In some Middle Eastern areas, adoption rates have surpassed the growth curve predicted by the industry data. Israeli battery electric vehicle sales are already above 10%.
Middle Eastern nations are preparing for an EV-only future by broadening their business interests and spending in electric technology, such as oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
In the meanwhile, Noel asserts that public-private sector involvement in the development of a charging infrastructure will be crucial to EV adoption in the area.
By 2030, 30% of all automobiles in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh are expected to be electric, which would require even more infrastructure as part of the country’s “Vision 2030” strategy to reduce emissions and put the nation on a course for stable economic growth. Saudi Arabia presently has the most charging stations in the Middle East.
By 2028 or earlier, according to Noel, over 10% of all vehicles in the Gulf will be electric vehicles. According to his forecast, the area “will continue to be a boom centre for the near future.”
Despite its success in 2018, Ford’s Model e electric vehicle division has lost $6 billion in the last two years and is predicted to lose a further $3 billion in 2023.
James Farley, the CEO of Ford, recently stated that the manufacturing bottleneck is caused by the batteries. We simply don’t have the production capabilities to create them quickly, Noel reiterated.
Ford is creating BlueOval City, its “biggest, most sophisticated, and efficient auto complex,” to combat this. To construct the next-generation electric F-series and lithium-ion batteries, the project consists of three battery manufacturing facilities and an EV assembly factory.
The production of two million EVs yearly by Ford by 2026 is anticipated to be greatly aided by the automaker’s EV mega-campus.
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