BattScout

Middle East countries are well known for their vast supply of fossil energy. However, whenever it comes to the battery business, Asia-pacific is always considered the central hub, as China, South Korea, and Japan are the leaders' battery producers in terms of capacity produced annually. Nevertheless, there has been an increase in the number of Middle Eastern countries that have released plans for sustainable energy and are entering the energy storage market in recent years.

It was announced in 2022 by Saudi Arabia's minister of industry and mineral resources that the country would invest $6 billion in nine mines, including those that would supply metals necessary for electric vehicles. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia plans to buy 100 thousand electric cars from Lucid Motors, an EV company located in California, in the next ten years. By 2030, 30% of Saudi cars will be electric, according to Fahad Al-Rasheed, the CEO of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City.

As part of a partnership with Australian lithium producer, Lepidico, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) plans to establish a lithium extraction facility in Abu Dhabi. The agreement contains a $95 million investment and will last 25 years to produce lithium precursors for the battery industry.

In Turkey, Aspilsan Energy has started production of lithium-ion batteries with an annual capacity of 220 MWh for its domestic battery factory. In collaboration with Farasis Energy, TOGG, a Turkish electric vehicle manufacturer, will launch a joint venture named SIRO to supply required batteries.TOGG already produces 175000 EVs per year.

By the end of 2022, the first Gigafactory for battery facility with LFP chemistry funded by Ford and SK On will be launched in the Middle East by Pomega Energy Storage, a subsidiary of Kontrolmatik, with a capacity of 1 GWh.

The oil suppliers will have less strategic importance as soon as fossil fuel demand decreases, which explains why the oil-rich countries also worry about switching to the electric vehicle supply chain.