Saudi Arabia’s next act is supplying the world with EV batteries

Bloomberg News | November 8, 2023 | 7:43 am Battery Metals Intelligence Asia Lithium

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

The world’s biggest oil producer is now also aiming to become a key hub for making batteries for electric vehicles, as Saudi authorities look for new ways to diversify the economy and develop a domestic auto industry.

Saudi Arabia is looking at investing in the production of EV batteries and manufacturing hydrogen-powered vehicles as the next step in its plans to build a nexus for carmaking in the Middle East, Khalid Al-Falih, the minister of investment, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

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“What’s next is the supply chain,” Falih said Wednesday during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore. Authorities “hope that EV batteries will be a key supply chain manufacturing opportunity.”

Seven years into Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s program to wean the country off hydrocarbons, focus is increasing on manufacturing after scant progress in diversifying an economy that still relies on oil and its close derivatives — petrochemicals and plastics — for more than 90% of its exports.

Saudi efforts are now also zeroing in on renewable energy and mining minerals needed to develop battery chemicals. Saudi Arabia has already set a target for producing 500,000 electric vehicles by 2030.