Electric vehicles to account for 25% of all new sales in the UAE by 2035

The adoption of electric vehicles is expanding in the UAE and could account for up to 25 per cent of all new passenger cars and light commercial vehicle sales by 2035 amid the country's decarbonisation efforts, a report has found.

EVs will have a market share of more than 15 per cent of all sales in the UAE by 2030, and could reach about 110,500 vehicles five years later, PwC's recently released

Currently, EVs – also known as battery electric vehicles – represent 3 per cent of all vehicles sold in the UAE, the report said, with internal combustion engine vehicles dominating the market.

Battery electric vehicles currently make up 7 per cent of the cars offered by UAE dealers, compared with 26 per cent in Europe.

"While all these car options are available in the world, they're not necessarily available in the world, they're not necessarily available here [in the UAE]," said Heiko Seitz, PwC's global and Middle East e-mobility leader.

"If you want to make e-mobility work in the Middle East, you also have to provide all the different car models to the users they want to buy."

"The gap between the current roll-out speed of public charging infrastructure and demand is set to grow," the report said.

There are approximately 2,000 public charge points deployed throughout the UAE currently, according to PwC.

"Demand is forecast to reach 45,000 charge points by 2035 if the UAE's National Electric Vehicles Policy target for the share of EVs on the road is to be met," the report said.

"However, at the current rate of rollout there will only be 10,000 charge points in the UAE by 2035."