Stakeholders hail project to install 10,000 electric car charging stations

AMMAN — Installing thousands of charging stations in Jordan will help the deteriorating car-dealing sector mitigate economic burdens on citizens and positively impact the environment, stakeholders said on Thursday. 

The German-based company eCharge and local stakeholders on Wednesday signed cooperation agreements to build more than 10,000 smart electric vehicle charging stations in the Kingdom, Amr Abdou, head of business development at the company, told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Wednesday.

The car-dealing sector is currently suffering the consequences of recent government decisions to lift tax exemptions on hybrid cars and levy a tax on the weight of all sorts of vehicles, said car dealer Jihad Abu Nasser.

Nasser stressed that, once the stations are built across the Kingdom, demand for electric cars will increase, which will in turn elevate the economic situation of the vehicles trading sector. 

Increased demand will also encourage the import of spare parts, which will make maintenance easier and cheaper, the dealer added, also calling for increasing the number of maintenance centres across the Kingdom.   

He commended the project for its positive impact on the environment, noting that the stations will use clean renewable energy instead of oil-generated electricity.

Electric cars are exempted from the customs clearance and annual licensing fees, according to Nasser.

Ameen Qadiri, a motorist, "highly" praised the project as it will facilitate the process of charging his car in addition to saving him time and effort.

"Currently, charging my car is not easy. At home, it takes a long time and, at the few available stations I have to wait in line," Qadiri said.

Some residents have been reluctant to buy electric cars because using them across long distances can be difficult due to the lack of charging stations.

"I have been thinking about buying an electric car but I was hesitant as I drive for long distances," Haidar Nezami, another citizen, said.

Speaking to Petra on the sidelines of the 10th Afaq economic conference held at the Dead Sea area, Abdou said that the agreements were signed after evaluating studies prepared by a Jordanian company on the number of electric vehicles in the Kingdom.

"Such stations will help reduce the Kingdom's oil bill, which currently accounts for 19 per cent of the GDP," he added.

The stations will charge vehicles in less than 15 minutes, and payments will be made through technical platforms known as "blockchains", where anyone can charge money and pay through a smartphone application, Abdou explained. 

In recent remarks to The Jordan Times, the Jordan Free Zone Investor Commission President Nabeel Rumman said that some 5,950 electric cars were cleared in 2017.