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Korea’s top automaker, Hyundai, is looking to tap into Saudi Arabia’s post-oil era with a dedicated EV assembly plant in the region.

Following a new report from The Wall Street Journal claiming Tesla and Saudi Arabia are in early talks to build an EV factory (which Elon Musk has denied, calling it “utterly false”), it looks like “The Kingdom” has found another auto partner.

Hyundai is set to build a new EV assembly plant in Saudi Arabia as the country prepares for the post-oil era.

The Korean automaker signed an MOU with Saudi’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources to build a facility for assembling EVs earlier this year.

Under the agreement, Hyundai plans to ship semiproduced electric cars and parts to Saudi Arabia to assemble them using a completely knocked down (CKD) system.

According to industry sources on Monday (via The Korean Economic Daily Global), the two parties are expected to finalize a deal when Chung Euisum, Hyundai Motor Group chair, visits the nation next month.

Once a deal is reached, Hyundai will be the first Korean automaker with an assembly plant in the Middle East. Hyundai is already the second-largest carmaker in Saudi Arabia, behind Toyota, with over 47,000 vehicles sold in the first half of 2023.

Hyundai-Saudi-EV-plant
Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric SUV (Source: Hyundai)

Hyundai eyes Saudi EV plant as post-oil era approaches

Industry officials say an EV plant in Saudi would act as Hyundai’s entry point into the Middle East as it diversifies away from oil.

Hyundai and its affiliates are already establishing a network in the country. Hyundai KEFICO Corp recently signed a 250 billion won ($189 million) deal with Ceer Motors for EMS and power conversion systems.

Hyundai-Saudi-EV-plant
2023 Hyundai IONIQ 6 (Source: Hyundai)

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) revealed it was launching Ceer, its own electric car brand, in collaboration with Foxconn and BMW last year.

PIF is also the largest shareholder in American EV maker, Lucid Motors, owning around 61% of the company’s common stock. The fund has invested about $9 billion in Lucid to date.

Lucid-Saudi-EV-plant
Lucid Air electric vehicle in Saudi Arabia (Source: Lucid)

Lucid has plans of its own to build an EV plant in the country with a 150,000-unit annual capacity by 2024. According to industry officials, Lucid will likely source batteries from LG Energy Solution, another Korean company.

Electrek’s Take

As part of the nation’s “Vision 2030“ plan, Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and prime minister, is vowing to attract advanced EVs while boosting non-oil GDP to 50% from around 16% today.

The world’s largest oil producer aims for a third of all cars in its capital city of Riyadh to be electric by 2030.

As EVs continue rolling out at a record pace, Saudi Arabia looks to protect its economic interest as it prepares for a drastic industry shake-up. Meanwhile, Hyundai sees the transition coming and looks to hop on the trend sooner rather than later.

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The first giant 15 MW turbine is up at Germany’s largest offshore wind farm

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The first giant 15 MW turbine is up at Germany’s largest offshore wind farm

Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.

He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.

When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.

EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.

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The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.

He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.

The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.

A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.

Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build


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Tesla gives update on Tesla Semi factory, says on track for volume production in 2026

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Tesla gives update on Tesla Semi factory, says on track for volume production in 2026

Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.

The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.

Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.

For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.

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Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:

Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.

The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.

We recently reported that an early Tesla Semi customer, Ryder, stated that the electric truck program is experiencing more delays and a price increase described as “dramatic.”

They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.

When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.

However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.

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Vietnamese solar giant Boviet opens first US factory in North Carolina

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Vietnamese solar giant Boviet opens first US factory in North Carolina

Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.

The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.

The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.

Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.

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The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.

“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.

Read more: Thomas Built Buses debuts its next-gen electric school bus


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