RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s electric vehicles ecosystem is expected to get a further boost, with Indian startup Pravaig Dynamics planning to set up a left-hand-drive EV manufacturing unit in the Kingdom.
In a statement, Pravaig Dynamics said that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi India Venture Studio during the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance Summit held in New Delhi last week.
The Bengaluru-based firm said that the EV manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia would have a production capacity of up to 1 million units and cater to the demand of the Gulf, US and Europe markets.
The MoU was signed between Pravaig Dynamics CEO Siddhartha Bagri and SIVS CEO Mansour Al-Sanooni.
“By combining Pravaig’s expertise with the Kingdom of Saudi’s invaluable support and strategic guidance, we are poised to unlock unparalleled economic opportunities of $31 billion-plus across international markets,” said Pravaig Dynamics’ Bagri in a statement.
SIVS is a Saudi government-backed firm that aims to accelerate the EV market in the Kingdom.
Under the MoU, both companies will work toward exploring co-development, supply and service special purpose vehicles, including EVs, AI-driven solutions, advanced batteries and energy storage solutions.
Saudi Arabia’s EV ecosystem has been witnessing a rapid expansion over the past few years, as the Kingdom has set its net-zero targets in 2060. Its National Strategy for Transport and Logistics also focuses on raising the utility of electric cars to 25 percent by the end of this decade.
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority launched a program that allows residents and tourists to rent Lucid Motors’ EVs.
In March 2023, Faisal Sultan, Lucid’s vice president and managing director in the Middle East, told Arab News that it would roll out its first fully Saudi-assembled electric car in September in Jeddah.
“Very exciting things are happening at Lucid, and if you take a flight to Jeddah and drive to King Abdullah Economic City, where our plant is going to be located … Pretty soon we are going to start putting equipment in that,” said Sultan.
Last year, Lucid also signed deals to build a production facility in the Kingdom with an annual capacity of 155,000 zero-emission EVs.
