The Egyptian government announced the start of production of the first homemade electric car, in July next year. Yesterday, Wednesday, the Minister of Public Business Sector, Hisham Tawfiq, attended a conference announcing the date of the launch of the electric car to be produced by the Nasr Company for the Automotive Industry, affiliated with the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries (governmental) in cooperation with Chinese institutions specialized in the field of electric cars.
The Victory Company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Dongfeng Company, last June, to produce a car called “Victory E70” with a maximum production capacity of about 50,000 cars annually.
According to official statements, the proportion of the local component in the “Nasr” car is scheduled to reach about 58 percent during the first stage of manufacturing, and to increase over the years of implementation.
The prices of the new car start from 290,000 pounds (equivalent to about 20 thousand dollars) up to 400,000 pounds, provided that 3 different categories of battery capacity and range of travel are subtracted from it.
Advantages of an electric car
Over the past months, government officials have talked about the advantages of the electric car and its suitability for the Egyptian market.
Among the advantages of the electric car is the reduction of air pollution by 80%, and the saving of maintenance expenses, as it is not subject to periodic maintenance, as in its fuel-driven counterpart.
Also, the new car does not require changing its motor, oil or filters, while the battery is guaranteed for a distance of 500,000 km.
In addition, it is a vehicle that saves fuel expenses, with every 10,000 kilometers it travels, it saves about 4,500 pounds (about 300 dollars) compared to the expense of conventional car fuel for the same distance.
The government is trying to promote the new car through several means, including the Ministry of Finance providing a financial incentive to buyers through a subsidy of about 50 thousand pounds, and the Ministry of Electricity providing an incentive price of 169 piasters per kilowatt, as well as interest in facilitating sales and maintenance services through partnership with one of the major companies.
How to charge
In previous statements to him, the Minister of Business Sector revealed a government plan to establish 3,000 public charging stations for electric cars in the governorates of Egypt, with each station serving two cars at the same time, with a total of 6,000 cars being charged at the same time.
The range of the new car battery that Egypt will produce is 250 km with a charging capacity of 38 kilowatts, 51 kilowatts with a range of 400 km, and 61 kilowatts, with a range of 500 km.
The Minister of Business Sector explained that the car can be charged from the electricity of the house, but it will need a longer time than the chips equipped in public stations, and the household chip – which costs 4600 pounds – will need to prepare a balance of 400 pounds.
victory date
In 1957, a ministerial decision was issued to form a committee comprising the Ministries of War and Industry to start manufacturing cars in Egypt through the establishment of a specialized company named “Al-Nasr” in cooperation with a German company specialized in this field.
For nearly 50 years, Al-Nasr contributed to pumping cars into the Egyptian market, especially during the sixties, when it produced about 384,000 cars over 5 decades. The company produced several famous models such as Nasr 128, Nasr 127, Tempera, Florida, and Nasr Shaheen.
With the beginning of the nineties, Al-Nasr began to retreat in conjunction with the establishment of special factories to produce and assemble modern cars, and the investment of international companies inside Egypt by establishing production lines for them.
In light of the competition of international companies, sales of Nasr cars declined, which led to the accumulation of debts.
In 2000, the company’s activities were separated and production was distributed to two separate entities, so that the activity of manufacturing buses, heavy transport and agricultural tractors became affiliated with the Engineering Company for the Automotive Industry, and the activity of the Nasr Company was limited to the manufacture of passenger cars.
The dismissal did not lead to an improvement in the company’s economic conditions, so it was placed under liquidation in 2009, until its general assembly decided, in 2016, to re-examine how to return to the market again, so that the Ministry of Business Sector announced, in 2020, that Al-Nasr would take over the production of the first electric car in country.
Car market
The Automotive Market Information Council (AMIC) revealed that the number of cars running on the streets of Egypt has risen to about 11 million.
In a statement issued yesterday, commenting on Cairo’s start of manufacturing the electric car, the council referred to the Egyptian government’s plan to localize the car industry and to ensure the provision of clean energy cars, whether they run on natural gas or electric power, or through green hydrogen energy.
Sales of locally assembled cars recorded a 42% growth, reaching 17,324 vehicles, during the first four months of this year, compared to 12,164 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Egypt ranked 43rd in the list of countries that produce cars of all kinds, with a total of 23.7 thousand vehicles during the past year, according to the International Association of the Automobile Industry “OICA”.