U.S. electrical car maker Lucid Group will arrange its first abroad manufacturing unit in Saudi Arabia, the corporate introduced.
Javier Blas | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
U.S. electrical car maker Lucid Group will arrange its first abroad manufacturing unit in Saudi Arabia, the company has announced.
The manufacturing facility will have the ability to produce 155,000 automobiles a yr, and can initially serve the native market, the posh automotive maker mentioned in a press launch Wednesday. The automobiles will later be exported to world markets.
Lucid’s manufacturing unit in Arizona can produce 350,000 items a yr.
“Meaning we will speed up plans to supply half 1,000,000 vehicles a yr from what was going to be 2030, to mid decade,” CEO Peter Rawlinson informed CNBC’s Hadley Gamble. “And that is actually essential as a result of the planet cannot wait.”
The continued vitality disaster “actually simply fuels the transition to battery electrical automobiles,” mentioned Rawlinson.
“The demand is now multiplying,” he mentioned.
EV business ambitions
Saudi Arabia’s minister of funding, Khalid al-Falih, mentioned the Lucid manufacturing unit is only the start.
“I consider it unleashes the entire business of electrical automobiles right here within the kingdom, our intent is to not cease with Lucid,” he informed CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.
“We’ve different EV producers which might be in superior discussions with us that may observe within the footsteps of Lucid,” he added.
Saudi Arabia additionally needs EV battery corporations, suppliers and extra to arrange store within the nation, which may create 30,000 jobs, he mentioned.
“We consider, like I mentioned, that it is a catalytic funding choice … it is a magnet that may entice loads of different buyers,” al-Falih mentioned.
Lucid’s Rawlinson mentioned the corporate would need to produce greater than electrical vehicles in Saudi Arabia, and pointed to vitality storage programs that might be linked to photo voltaic photovoltaic farms.
“This know-how is good for this a part of the world,” he mentioned. “As a result of bear in mind, when the oil runs out, the solar will preserve shining.”
As of 2021, Saudi Arabia was the world’s second largest producer of oil, in line with the U.S. Power Data Administration. It additionally has 297.5 billion barrels in oil reserves, second solely to Venezuela, a World Population Review rating mentioned.
The dominion’s state oil firm, Aramco, noticed its net income spike 82% to $39.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
Al-Falih mentioned the world nonetheless must spend money on each fossil fuels and renewables to make the vitality transition as easy as doable.
He mentioned Saudi Arabia is dedicated to its shift from conventional fuels to cleaner vitality, citing the dominion’s inexperienced initiatives.
— CNBC’s Dan Murphy contributed to this report.
