UAE's first flagship EV charging hub to launch this year

The electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in the UAE is set for a boost later this year with the opening of a charging hub which will provide what has been described as a super-premium experience beyond standard stationary charging stands. Developed by UAEV, the country's dedicated EV charging company, the site will feature green landscaping, fountains and an automatic queuing system, combining sustainability with sleek user design. The hub is capable of servicing 20 EVs simultaneously and is expected to launch before the end of 2025. While further details of the hub will be unveiled at an official announcement expected in the next two months, The National can reveal that the first hub will launch in Ajman this year, with another to follow in Dubai in 2026. "This is a first-of-its-kind in the UAE," said Hicham Ezzahid, chief executive of UAEV, speaking at the Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit (EVIS) taking place this week in Abu Dhabi. Through the "flagship hub", Mr Ezzahid hopes to see EV charging become more of an experience than a utility. Heiko Seitz, global and Middle East eMobility leader at PwC, told The National that such experiential establishments are important in creating educational awareness. "People need to be aware that this is actually a positive product, a product that gives them a certain lifestyle, that gives them convenience," said Mr Seitz. Mr Seitz said such hubs will serve as a showcase for the industry, which could encourage further electric vehicle adoption. "They're going to be like flagships for the industry, where people see cars charging and say, 'that actually works. I can do that as well'," he said. "These things are important for the consumer, and they're an important blueprint for other investors. And, other charge point investors will want to follow suit." The hub is part of UAEV's broader goal to install 1,000 public charging stations able to cater to varying numbers of vehicles across all seven emirates by 2030. More than 95 per cent of these are planned to be high-speed units, with next-generation ultra-fast chargers capable of delivering a full top-up in as little as 10 minutes in newer electric vehicle models. Currently charge time can vary, depending on the vehicle and charging station, from 18 minutes to eight hours. In 2024, UAEV rolled out 120 new charging stations across the northern emirates. This year, another 200 stations are planned, mainly in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. To support electric vehicle adoption, UAEV has signed a new agreement with AW Rostamani Group, the automotive distributor behind Chinese EV brand Zeekr and the modernised Smart car line-up. Under the partnership, new buyers of Zeekr and Smart vehicles will receive charging credits redeemable across UAEV's network. Mr Seitz said this strategy is seen in Tesla models in the US, which offer free supercharging to encourage adoption. In December, UAEV announced that it had set tariffs for the faster Direct Current (DC) chargers at Dh1.2 per kilowatt-hour, and for Alternating Current (AC) chargers at Dh0.7 per kilowatt-hour. Sandeep Arora, director of strategy and business excellence at AWR, said the deal reflects a market that is rapidly moving towards an EV tipping point. "If you look at the global trends, there is always a tipping point when the acceptance of electric cars increases. We believe that tipping point is the moment one fifth of the cars sold in the market are electric cars," he said. "Electric car numbers have grown by five times in the last five years. We believe the tipping point – where EV adoption really takes off – is just a couple of years away." Electric vehicle penetration in the UAE started to take off in 2023, with a sharp increase in the number of EVs making up the number of cars on the Emirates' roads to 11 per cent in 2023, up from 3.7 per cent the previous year. "We already have close to 150,000 electric vehicles on the roads of UAE." said Mr Seitz. Launched in May 2024, with an initial capital investment of Dh60 million, UAEV's primary purpose is to develop and expand a fast and accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Range anxiety, the term which refers to fears about how far a vehicle can travel without running out of battery, and the time it takes to charge a vehicle, remain the two main barriers on the way to EV adoption. Mr Ezzahid told The National that the company's strategy is not just to increase the number of stations, but to distribute them evenly enough to eliminate range anxiety. Both Mr Ezzahid and Mr Arora agree that the electric vehicle market in the UAE is moving faster than expected, and that electric vehicles could make up 30 per cent of cars on the roads ahead of the government's 2030 target. Mr Seitz, meanwhile, notes that the market has already reached a certain level of maturity. He adds that mass adoption will come when more charging infrastructure is rolled out.

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