São Paulo – Egypt will start producing electric vehicles as part of an effort to encourage this market. The announcement that technical examinations in preparation for manufacturing will begin in June was made by the minister of Public Business Sector, Hisham Tawfik, earlier this week when he visited El-Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Company, which will produce vehicles with China Dongfeng Motor Industry Import and Export Company.
Tests are scheduled to last for three months and the vehicles should start exiting the production line by mid-2022, with an annual capacity of 25,000 cars. The goal is to reach an annual capacity of 3.5 million vehicles. Tawfik visited El-Nasr to see 13 A70 cars imported from China for testing in Egypt before starting production of the model.
According to a news published on Egypt’s news website Al-Ahram, testing of the Chinese cars is required to determine the final specifications of the model that will be produced in the Arab country. The A70, which in Egypt should be called Nasr E70, is a medium-sized, comfortable sedan.
Minister Tawfik said the production of EVs is a guideline by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to focus on environmentally friendly cars, reduce fossil fuel dependence and follow the global advancements of the auto industry. The country has also announced the production of electric buses.
Tawfik discussed with the managing director of El-Nasr, Hani El-Khouli, approaches to charge EVs through charging units at gas stations in Egypt. The country has 75 EV charging units and plans to increase the number to 3,000 during the first year of production of the E70 cars.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
