E-Mobility means diversification – and even though the significant Gulf states, that set trends in the Middle Eastern region, traditionally rely on fossil fuels, their PV and battery storage expansion plans go hand in hand with ambitions to diversify the transport sector. The background is to promote economic development by participating in the green energy markets and to decarbonize road transport. Consequently, Middle Eastern countries are developing national strategies for digital and green transitions, setting ambitious targets for e-mobility. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Quatar are leading this process and represent the region's most dynamic EV markets.
According to consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, Qatar aims for at least 24 per cent of new car purchases to be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035. UAE wants to achieve a quote of at least 10 percent of all vehicles and 30 percent of all new vehicles on the road to be EVs by 2030, according to consultancy firm Roland Berger. Although the market is less mature by the time, also Saudi-Arabia aims a goal of 30 percent of vehicles in its capital Riyadh to be fully electric by 2030.
GCC e-mobility is shifting from pilots to scale: According to the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, EV sales in all GCC-countries (Saudi-Arabia, UAE, Quatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain) are forecast at around 30,050 units in 2025 and around 36,620 by 2029, corresponding a Compound Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1 percent. UAE is already advancing, with 6 percent EV sales penetration in 2024, while the Government of Dubai reports about 1,270 charging points and about 40,600 EVs in the first half of 2025 for Dubai alone.
Even though Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters, only had 101 charging stations in 2024, the kingdoms market might develop in accordance with the surge of a manufacturing ecosystem. Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund PIF-backed local EV brand, plans to unveil its first two models in 2026. Lucid is already producing in-country at its facility near Jeddah, starting with an initial capacity of around 5,000 vehicles per year.
In the Middle East, electric two- and three-wheelers are gaining traction through shared e-scooters/ e-bikes and last-mile delivery fleets, with cities like Dubai rolling out regulated micromobility programs and even e-bike battery-swapping infrastructure to support high-utilization operations.
Fleet-based electrification is accelerating e-mobility across the Middle East because high utilization and depot charging make rollouts scalable. According to the study “Decarbonising Mobility” published by the Centre of Transport Excellence MENA UITP, the wider MENA bus market is projected to grow at around 1.86 percent CAGR from 2025–2029 and includes around 32,000 buses. Qatar shows the pace possible in the GCC, with around 75 percent of its public bus fleet electrified.
PV and battery storage deployment is accelerating across the Middle East, strengthening the case for electrifying road transport as part of an integrated energy transition. Political ambitions are high, and in several markets, electrification is linked to industrial diversification through localization and manufacturing ecosystem build-up. At the same time, faster e-mobility rollout faces persistent hurdles, including extreme heat that can stress duty cycles, gaps in skilled labor and supplier capacity, grid connection and reinforcement needs, and charging networks that still require broader coverage and higher reliability.