Clearance of hybrid vehicles goes into high gear

AMMAN — The clearance of hybrid vehicles has increased by around 192 per cent during the first quarter of 2023, according to Jihad Abu Nasser, representative of the automobile sector at the Jordan Free Zone Investor Commission (JFZIC).

Speaking with The Jordan Times, Waleed Shamekh, a car dealer, said that hybrid cars are still “incredibly popular” despite the surge in demand for electric vehicles (EVs). 

The first three months of 2023 witnessed the clearance of over 14,000 vehicles from the Zarqa Free Zone, marking a 40 per cent growth compared with the same period last year, Abu Nasser told The Jordan Times. 

These include 3,309 gasoline vehicles, 1,717 diesel vehicles, 3,782 hybrid vehicles and 5,686 electric vehicles, he said. 

 Additionally, 9,132 vehicles were reexported from the Zarqa Free Zone between January and March this year, with 8,931 vehicles during the same period last year, he added. 

Abu Nasser also pointed out that the number of cleared EVs increased by 89 per cent in the first quarter of 2023. 

 He said that the market currently offers consumers electric cars for a wide range of prices; “you can buy a new electric car for JD10,000, which is equal to the price of a gasoline car that requires twice the operational costs”. 

Switching from a gasoline car to an electric car allows Jordanians to save JD170 per month for oil changes, maintenance and gasoline, Abu Nasser added. 

However, the lack of charging stations remains a challenge for most EV users, he continued.

According to Abu Nasser, all EV charging stations in the Kingdom are for European vehicles, whereas over 95 per cent of EVs in the Jordanian market are from China, Japan and Korea. 

In a previous statement to The Jordan Times, spokesperson of the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), Tahreer Al Qaq, said that as of the end of 2022, there were 54 EV charging stations in Jordan. 

The commission also issued 92 licences for the construction of 60 public and 32 private EV charging stations, she added. 

Moreover, the EMRC approved 2,000 requests to install an electric meter, separate from the main meter connected to houses, for the purpose of charging EVs, according to Qaq.