Swedish EV logistics company Einride is betting that as much as half of the $4 trillion freight trucking industry can go electric today on a cost-effective basis, and it’s been winning some notable deals around the world, from PepsiCo in the U.K. to Maersk, Beyond Meat and GE Appliances in Tennessee. Now it’s also breaking into a market synonymous with the oil and gas-powered world: the Middle East.
The electric freight mobility company, which ranked No. 13 on the 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, announced a partnership earlier this week with the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure to establish sustainable shipping within the region. Its still early – a memorandum of understanding – but it is Einride’s first step in creating what could ultimately become the region’s largest autonomous and electric fleet. That’s expected to take five years to complete.
“This collaboration gets to the core of what Einride provides – the transformation to effective and sustainable shipping that is fully electric,” said Robert Falck, CEO and founder, in a release. “By partnering on this deal, we’ll be able to showcase how entire regions are able to make the switch in an intelligent and cost-effective way.”
Einride plans to deploy a freight mobility grid ranging over 300 miles across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, made up of 2,000 electric trucks, 200 autonomous trucks and eight charging stations. The UAE also just announced the launch of a project to help the country transition to EVs and involves the development of more charging stations and incentives to buy EVs.
The UAE is not the only Mideast energy power diversifying its investments in new climate tech. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund announced the launch of Ceer, the country’s first EV brand, and plans to have the cars on the market by 2025. Saudi Arabia is also a major investor in luxury EV brand Lucid and agreed to buy up to 100,000 Lucid EVs in the next decade. In a new equity round announced this week, Lucid raised roughly $3 billion, the majority of it coming from the Saudi fund.
U.S. manufacturers like GM and Ford plan to bring EVs to the Middle East, with GM preparing to launch the Cadillac LRIQ and GMC Hummer EV in the Middle East this year, while Ford intends to launch EVs in the region in 2024.
A recent slide in oil prices as the global economy weakens has made some question the economics of EVs. Falck believes that in the freight market, where diesel is king and prices during the pandemic inflation skyrocketed, a recent declines won’t stop the transition toward electric vehicles.
“The long-term competitiveness of electric hasn’t changed,” Falck recently told CNBC. “This transition is driven by the business case, and as hardware becomes cheaper and more available, this transition will only pick up.”
