The El Nasr Automotive Manufacturing Company, in cooperation with “Uber”, has started to put electric cars of the “E70” model on the road for test purposes in cooperation with “Uber”, the Ministry of Public Economy announced on Sunday.
The statement said this is an interim measure to begin manufacturing its first locally produced electric car. The tests ultimately aim to determine the final specifications of the vehicle, which will be produced locally at the automotive company Nasr.
The Nasr automobile company imported 13 cars from the Chinese Dongfeng Motor Corporation, through which it cooperates, to produce this model in the factories of the Nasr company and to test it on the streets of Egypt.
The trial includes nine cars that will be delivered via the Uber application to drivers who have been trained to use and charge electric cars by a team from the Chinese company Dongfeng.
Over a period of three to four months, the car is tested according to certain criteria with a distance of up to 30,000 kilometers per car.
Production of Nasr’s E70 model is slated to begin in the second half of 2022, with a capacity of 25,000 cars per year in one shift.
In December 2019, the ministry announced the deal with the Chinese company to build electric cars on the production lines of the Egyptian company Nasr.
The project will revive the Nasr production lines, which have been shut down since 2009. The production capacity is expected to increase to around 25,000 electric cars annually in a few years.
Egypt has the second largest automotive market in Africa and the 42nd largest in the world.
In recent years, the country has tried to revitalize its local automotive assembly market, including signing a letter of intent with Mercedez-Benz to set up an assembly plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.
The country has offered a number of incentives to auto companies to set up assembly plants in the country, including reducing or eliminating customs duties on imported parts and equipment.
