The Kingdom has been taking serious steps to boost its EV sector, a fundamental part of its Vision 2030 program JEDDAH: Schneider Electric Saudi Arabia and GREENER by IHCC have signed a partnership agreement to develop e-mobility infrastructure in the Kingdom’s nascent and fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) sector. Schneider, a French energy management and automation solutions company, and GREENER, a sustainability and energy efficiency services provider, will work on a strategy to boost the number of EV charging facilities in the Kingdom. GREENER is part of IHCC, a Jeddah-based turnkey solutions provider specializing in healthcare, education and mixed-use projects. Schneider is already a leader in this area thanks to its EVLink range of charging solutions installed throughout the Kingdom. “GREENER by IHCC sees the potential for electric vehicle infrastructure, and we’re delighted that we can partner with them to help Saudi Arabia build a world-class network of chargers that will power this transition,” said Mohamed Shaheen, Schneider’s cluster president for the Kingdom and Yemen. This partnership is in line with the recently announced Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives, which aim to reduce carbon emissions, combat pollution and land degradation, and preserve nature. The Kingdom has been taking serious steps to boost its EV sector, a fundamental part of its Vision 2030 program. In 2020, commercial imports of EVs and their charging stations were allowed in Saudi Arabia under specific procedures. A committee has been created — headed by the Energy Ministry, in coordination with government and private agencies and research centers — which aims to study all aspects related to establishing infrastructure for EVs. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is an anchor investor for US-based EV manufacturer Lucid Motors. The sovereign wealth fund announced its first investment of $1 billion in Lucid in September 2018. The investment was made to “provide the necessary funding to commercially launch Lucid’s first electric vehicle, the Lucid Air, in 2020,” the PIF said. Lucid is scouting out locations for retail sales outlets in the Kingdom, and aims to get them up and running by the end of 2021 or early 2022, CEO Peter Rawlinson told Arab News earlier this year.