Planning to buy an EV? You should have access to 3k charging stations within three years as the government continues to encourage a move towards electric and natural gas powered vehicles, El Watan reports, citing unnamed sources in the know. The plans also include the establishment of electric vehicle parking and charging stations in shopping center garages, as well as at the Tahrir and Ramsis garages. The oil, electricity, finance, and public enterprises ministries are coordinating on how to set up the infrastructure for the stations. The 3k stations goal appears to be more ambitious than statements given by Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik last January, in which he said the government would be targeting 1k stations by the end of three years.

A number of EV charging points have already been rolled out to select gas stations, with the first inaugurated in February 2018 on the Cairo-Suez highway. EV outfit Revolta Egypt says it has completed 87 charging stations across the country, and announced its intention to bring that figure to 690 by the end of 2020, though its website currently boasts 130.

The government has proposed a number of incentives to promote the EV conversion, including set charging prices and subsidies of up to 50k per vehicle, and requiring public enterprises to replace 5% of their fleet every year with electric cars. Egypt plans to begin manufacturing electric vehicles locally under a partnership agreement between El Nasr Automotive and China’s Dongfeng that should eventually see the assembly of 25k electric vehicles per year, and is expected to cost some EGP 2.5 bn. The agreement could be signed as early as today, as we note in What We’re Tracking Today, above.