EV Charging in the Middle East: Why Blueprints are Essential

“Believe, and what was impossible becomes possible; what at first was hidden becomes visible.”
— From Arabian Nights

This is the very essence of the Middle East’s bold transformation, where innovation is pushing our understanding of what is possible.

The Middle East is reimagining what modern infrastructure can look like. From the sun-soaked coastlines of Saudi Arabia to the skyline of Dubai, a transformation is underway - one where energy, transport, and technology converge to shape cities of the future. For the first time, mobility planning in the region isn’t being written around roads and fuel stations, but around electricity, efficiency, and ecosystems.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the giga-projects defining this new era - NEOM, The Red Sea Project, Qiddiya, Diriyah Gate, and Masdar City. This is where EV charging is treated as a utility, not an accessory. These developments will lay the groundwork for integrated electrification, enabling future-ready systems that connect parking, grid, and mobility.

Middle East Mega Projects Are Making EVs the Default Transport

In both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, electric mobility is becoming the face of future urbanism. EV charging is no longer a ‘supporting infrastructure’, it’s a symbol of progress and sustainability.

Saudi Arabia: Vision 2030 in Motion

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 sets the tone for an electric-first future. NEOM, a futuristic megacity 33 times the size of New York is being built along the Red Sea coast. In it, 170 km linear city called The Line is being built without private cars on roads, designed instead around shared, electric, and autonomous mobility.

The Red Sea Project is powering its entire resort network through five solar farms and over 150 EV chargers running on renewable microgrids. Diriyah Gate, Qiddiya, and King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) are some other key projects that are integrating EV charging into retail, residential, and hospitality masterplans — each project EV-ready before construction even ends.

UAE: The Early Adopter

The UAE was one of the very first countries to bring a revolution of clean mobility while planning a city. It’s Masdar City was one of the first places to test self-driving pods and solar-operating chargers as a model for eco-friendly transportation. District 2020, which is the legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai, is becoming a testbed for future mobility, where both public and private developers test EV infrastructure on a large scale.

These examples are more than just milestones; they are also signs. They show that being ready for an electric vehicle (EV) should be part of the planning stage, not something that comes later.

But the goal is inspiring, and the task is huge. Building charging infrastructure for a city and doing it in a way that lasts requires a level of planning, coordination, and technology integration that is not often seen.

Building EV Charging Infrastructure at Such Scale Is Complex

The commitment of electrification comes with a lot of logistical problems. Mega-projects need to plan for charging in residential areas, business districts, tourist areas, and logistics hubs all at the same time.

Multi-Layered Infrastructure Is Required

Every type of space demands its own charging layer:

• Slow chargers (3.7 - 22 kW) for overnight residential or workplace parking.

• Destination chargers (22 - 50 kW) for malls, offices, and resorts.

• High-power DC fast chargers (150 - 350 kW) for fleets, depots, and highways.

• Hybrid off-grid chargers (solar + BESS) for remote or coastal sites.

Best practice is to ‘future-proof’ each layer by installing modular foundations and conduits: design 22 kW charger bays for homes or destination charging, and 120kW public charging bays that can be upgraded to 150 - 350 kW later with minimal civil works. Key planning inputs include sizing transformers for peak use (and adding ~20% headroom), and pre-allocating spare feeders and cable ducts for future expansion. Designing these layers together, rather than separately, can ensure scalability. As one layer grows, others can adapt. This is a necessity when cities like NEOM expect thousands of EVs operating across vast, diverse terrain.  

But why can’t we consider building and rebuilding one step at a time?  

Retrofitting Is Costly and Inefficient

It costs a lot when you don't plan for an EV ready infrastructure ahead of time. Adding chargers after the fact means redoing the roads, changing the flow of electricity, and rebalancing grid loads. These time-heavy task can also add 5 -15% to project costs and push back deadlines.

District 2020 saw this happen easrly when new charging corridors had to be added, which meant digging up roads and redesigning parking areas.

The lesson is clear - you can't just add EV readiness; you have to build it.

EV Charging Needs To Be Integrated In Project Masterplans

To make sure that urban mobility stays useful in the future, EV infrastructure needs to be planned at the same time as power and transportation networks, not added later.  

This means that the city’s arteries, i.e, roads, grids, and data cables must already account for how electric mobility will grow.

Developers across Saudi Arabia and the UAE are beginning to design EV charging as a fourth utility. That requires:

• Oversized conduits and utility shafts built during the civil phase to avoid future trenching.

• Dedicated EV bays and flexible metering systems embedded in parking architecture.

• Fleet depots and logistics yards wired for high-power DC chargers from the outset.

• Grid alignment with SEC (Saudi Arabia) and DEWA or ADNOC (UAE) to synchronize expansion timelines.

Just as Wi-Fi became a non-negotiable feature in every building within a decade, EV charging now sits at the same design inflection point. It’s a baseline for every real-estate blueprint.

Integrating these systems early doesn’t just lower retrofit costs (often by 10–15%); it also transforms how cities can scale. As NEOM’s planners have shown, a single coordinated utility corridor can support transport, telecom, and power lines together — drastically simplifying long-term maintenance.

Charger Mix Is A Key Consideration

A city’s EV ecosystem only works when it’s diverse by design. Each setting — from residential towers to coastal resorts — requires a different balance of power, accessibility, and dwell time.

• Residential & workplace chargers (3.7–22 kW): support predictable, overnight or daytime charging with minimal grid stress.

• Destination chargers (22–50 kW): are good for malls, entertainment spots, hotels where people do not stay for a very long time.  

• High-power DC fast chargers (150–350 kW): keep logistics fleets and long-distance travelers moving.

• Hybrid off-grid systems (solar + BESS + DCFC): power remote highways and resort islands where extending the grid is uneconomical.

Best practice, as seen in NEOM and The Red Sea Project, is to “future-proof” each bay by laying modular foundations that can be upgraded from 22 kW to 150 kW without redoing civil works. Planners also make transformers about 20% bigger than they need to be and leave extra conduits for further growth.

Because of the way it is built, cities can start small and grow naturally as more people use it. It's a plan that combines smart engineering with smart spending.

Chargers Should Integrate With Grid and Energy Systems

The grid is where EV infrastructure lives; it doesn't exist on its own.  

Load management is very important in Saudi Arabia, where utility rates go up during peak demand. By combining Dynamic Load Management (DLM) with on-site Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), developers can smooth out consumption peaks and keep the OPEX from spiking.

Five solar farms with 760,000 panels feed renewable microgrids that power more than 150 chargers at The Red Sea Project. This mix of solar power, energy storage, and intelligent charging lets the resorts run off the grid while still being reliable round-the-clock.

Developers in Dubai are now expected to integrate rooftop solar with EV chargers at commercial and district scales, creating local energy ecosystems.

Across both markets, microgrid-ready chargers that can communicate with renewable plants will become the norm. This blend of power and mobility puts cities in a good position to achieve both energy-transition and mobility goals at the same time.

Charger Technology Is Needed For Reliability at Scale

Climate in the Middle East borders towards the extreme. The sand, heat, and salt can damage standard EV Charger hardware in coastal and desert areas in just a few months.

That’s why new EV chargers deployed at sites like Red Sea Global use IP65-rated enclosures, liquid-cooled cables, and anti-corrosive finishes capable of operating in 50 °C heat.

Software is equally critical. Open protocols like OCPP 2.0.1 make it easy for different vendors to work together, which is important when big projects tend to scale to thousands of EV chargers. Cloud-based systems let you monitor things from afar, do predictive maintenance, and control loads in real time. This cuts down the downtime and is efficient in the long run.

Revenue from EV charging is directly related to charger utilisation. For users, accessibility defines utilisation. EV charger interfaces must be bilingual (Arabic / English) and integrated with local payment rails such as Mada in Saudi Arabia and e-Dirham in the UAE. Combined, these elements ensure that charging experiences feel local, intuitive, and reliable — three traits that determine long-term success.

Charging Business Models Should Be Diversified

Large-scale charging networks can’t be sustained by a single model. There are multiple perspectives at play here.  

• Real-estate developers view EV readiness as a differentiator that lifts leasing velocity and asset value.

• Hotels and resorts deploy chargers as part of their sustainability branding — ‘EV-ready resorts’ already command higher visibility among premium travelers.

• Corporate campuses use charging to improve ESG scores and employee satisfaction.

• Governments and sovereign funds are also stepping in. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Saudi Arabia and Mubadala in the UAE are co-investing in mobility infrastructure through PPP and concession models, lowering upfront costs for developers.

The region is therefore experimenting with multiple frameworks — each tailored to its economic and regulatory context.

To enhance bankability, forward-thinking operators are signing anchor agreements with fleet owners or hospitality chains — guaranteeing minimum energy throughput or revenue share. Others are monetizing flexibility by providing ancillary grid services through their BESS installations.

In short, EV charging is shifting from a compliance requirement to a multi-revenue, value-creation platform — blending energy, real estate, and brand strategy into one ecosystem.

Previous Projects Teach Important Lessons

Early projects in the middle eastern region offer valuable lessons in scaling vision into reality. Masdar City proved that sustainability pilots alone aren’t enough — true impact comes from expanding clean mobility beyond demonstration zones into city-wide systems. District 2020, the legacy of Expo Dubai, showed how embedding EV charging early can elevate real estate value and create future-ready districts. Today, NEOM and The Red Sea Project are carrying that vision forward — integrating zero-emission transport, renewable energy, and smart charging into their very design, setting a new benchmark for what fully electrified urban ecosystems can achieve.

These cases demonstrate a crucial truth: chargers aren’t just infrastructure, they’re brand signatures. A well-planned charging network communicates innovation, foresight, and environmental responsibility.

EV Charging is the signature of future cities

As Saudi Arabia and the UAE lead the world in building cities from scratch, EV charging infrastructure is emerging as a defining layer of progress in the middle east. It sits at the intersection of sustainability, design, and economic value - shaping how residents live, how tourists move, and how energy systems operate.

To succeed, these nations will need partners who can match their ambition with reliability.

Explore our EV charging solutions here.