The world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia now wants to sell over 150k EVs by 2026

The world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, is getting ready to export electric vehicles, in line with the country’s “Vision 2030”.

According to Abdullah al-Swaha, Saudi Arabia's minister of communications and information technology, the country will produce and export more than 150,000 electric vehicles by 2026.

“This was a dream, and it has become a reality under the leadership of the Crown Prince,” al-Swaha said.

"Vision 2030" is Saudi Arabia's plan to cut carbon emissions while placing the country on a path for steady economic growth.

Al-Swaha stated during a discussion of the National Industrial Strategy, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled earlier this week, that “in 2026, the Kingdom will manufacture and export more than 150,000 electric cars”

He further added that Saudi Arabia’s investment in Lucid Motors “has placed the Kingdom among developed countries.”

According to Saudi Arabia's Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih, Lucid Motors began building its first overseas facility for electric vehicles in May of this year. The facility will be one of the automaker's three assembly plants.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia owns 61 percent of the California-based electric vehicle maker.

In April, the Saudi government revealed that it has ordered between 50,000 and 100,000 electric vehicles from Lucid over the following ten years.

Lucid’s CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson said back then, "Delivering up to 100,000 Lucid electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia represent another pivotal moment in our acceleration of sustainable transportation worldwide."

Rawlinson continued, "We are delighted to be supporting Saudi Arabia in achieving its sustainability goals and net zero ambitions, as outlined by Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, by bringing our advanced luxury EVs to Saudi Arabia. We plan to start manufacturing cars in 2025, and we will increase production in 2026 and 2027 to reach 150,000 cars annually.”

While Saudi Arabia owns around 17 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves, the highly volatile oil market stresses the country’s economy when oil demand sharply falls, like in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saudi Arabia then decided with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia (OPEC+) to cut oil production and had relief when the increase in demand and the limited oil supply drove the prices above $120.

As a part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to increase its non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) to 50 percent compared to 16 percent today.

The plan's bold objective is to have at least 30 percent of the automobiles and trucks in the Saudi capital Riyadh run on electricity by the turn of the decade.

We are thrilled to see the outcome of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, as the country trying to cut its carbon emissions is the world's largest oil exporter.