Saudi Arabia's electric mobility transition is no longer a question of consumer appetite. The appetite is already there. Al-Futtaim's Future of Mobility survey of Saudi consumers found that 79% intend to make a New Energy Vehicle (NEV) their next car purchase. The scale of this shift is coming into focus quickly: more than a third of those surveyed plan to make that purchase within the next one to three years. Clearly, this is not a market warming up; it is a market ready to move. The focus now must shift from proving demand to enabling it at scale. What comes next is the work of matching that readiness with the infrastructure, investment, and coordination to make it real. But readiness and the conditions to act on it are two different things. What our survey reveals is that the barriers standing between intention and action are not matters of desire. They are matters of infrastructure and economics. Range anxiety concerns 50% of prospective buyers. High purchase prices deter 46%. Concerns about long charging times hold back 43%.This is not a demand challenge, but rather an execution challenge. Not whether people want to make the switch, but ensuring the system around them is ready to support it when they do. Infrastructure and adoption must go hand in handFor a family weighing up the purchase of their first electric car, the question is rarely about the vehicle itself; it is whether they will be able to charge it reliably and conveniently. For a city planning to electrify its bus fleet, operational confidence depends on infrastructure performance, not solely on vehicle specification. The stronger the consumer pull, the more urgent it becomes to accelerate infrastructure readiness, not in parallel, but ahead of demand. What that infrastructure needs to look like matters enormously. The temptation in large-scale rollouts is to optimise for coverage, hitting a target number of charging points and calling the work done. But Saudi consumers are telling us something more specific. They want charging that fits how they live: at home, at work, and along the routes they already travel. They want speed and reliability, not as premium features, but as standard expectations. And they want the experience to be simple, not requiring planning or uncertainty about what they will find when they arrive. In this sense, the goal is to make charging invisible. When drivers stop thinking about charging as a separate consideration, the remaining barriers to adoption largely dissolve. A moment to accelerate There is also a broader mobility picture to consider. Despite nearly half of survey respondents living within walking distance of mass transit, most still choose private transport, citing limited routes, inconvenient timing, and concerns about comfort. What this signals is not a rejection of public transport, but an invitation to improve it. And the appetite for something better is clearly there. The same consumers express strong support for electric buses, integrated networks, and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms. This creates a unique window to rethink urban mobility holistically, not as separate systems, but as an integrated ecosystem. Saudi Arabia is exceptionally well-placed to lead this moment. Unlike markets constrained by decades of legacy infrastructure, the Kingdom has the latitude to build systems properly from the outset, designing around real behavior rather than retrofitting based on old assumptions. The strategic clarity of Vision 2030, combined with growing collaboration between government, industry, and infrastructure investors, creates genuine conditions for regional leadership. We have been actively supporting this transition through our product portfolio alongside continued investment in charging solutions, integrated facilities, and a rapidly expanding network set to grow from three showrooms in 2025 to more than 20 locations by 2026. Our focus is on increasing accessibility and building confidence, ensuring customers are fully supported as they transition to electric mobility. The Kingdom enters its mobility transition with strategic clarity, institutional will, and a consumer base that is genuinely ready to move. The task now is acceleration: investing in the charging networks that will convert intention into action, making NEVs accessible across income levels, and building a public transport offer worthy of the demand that already exists. The foundation is strong. The direction is right. What this moment calls for is speed.The foundation is in place. The demand is proven. The next phase is execution at pace. The question is no longer whether Saudi Arabia will lead in electric mobility, but how quickly it chooses to scale what is already in motion.
