Saudi Arabia’s government has agreed to buy between 50,000 and 100,000 electric vehicles within ten years from Lucid Motors, which is part-owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi Ministry of Finance said in a press statement.
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The agreement is part of the Vision 2030 plan to diversify away from fossil fuels and create a more sustainable society.
Lucid is currently building a factory to assemble its electric vehicles in Saudi Arabia, which will be its first overseas. It currently manufactures cars at a plant in Arizona.
In January, the company said that it aims to complete the Saudi factory by 2025 or 2026. It is eyeing the Red Sea city of Jeddah as a potential location.
The factory is expected to eventually build up to 150,000 electric vehicles per year.
Both factories will build the new vehicles ordered by the Saudi government, Reuters reported.
The new agreement will provide thousands of jobs to people in the Kingdom, the ministry statement said.
Shares for Lucid rose 5.4 percent in extended trading following the announcement.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF owns 61 percent of the California-headquartered company.
Delivery of the vehicles is expected to start no later than 2023, with order numbers initially ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 annually, and increasing to between 4,000 and 7,000 starting in 2025.
Lucid Motors manufactures the Lucid Air, an electric sedan with a range of up to 520 miles.
It takes approximately 20 minutes to charge to a range of 300 miles.
The Lucid Air has a maximum horsepower of 1,111 and goes from 0-60 in 2.5 seconds. The sedan starts at $77,400.
With agencies
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