RIYADH: Egypt has ordered a state-owned company to work with a Chinese firm to build affordable electric vehicles priced at 315,000 Egyptian pounds ($20,000). Egyptian authorities have approached three potential companies to partner with the state-owned automobile company El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing on the project. It aims to invest 2 billion Egyptian pounds, Bloomberg reported, citing Egypt’s Public Enterprise Minister Hisham Tawfik. Vehicle production is planned to start in 2023, with annual output set to rise to 20,000 in the next three years, he said. Egypt has about 5 million conventionally fuelled cars, and about 350 electric vehicles in use. It previously set a target to have only electric vehicles in operation by 2040. However, this depends on adoption by the public, the cars" affordabilty, and the availability of charging infrastructure. The government has set a target of having at least 3,000 charging stations installed within the next three years.