Electric and hybrid cars: The fleet has doubled in two years in Morocco
14 brands, 44 electric and hybrid models will be circulating in Morocco in 2022. In 2020, the vehicle fleet in hybrid and electric mode had barely 7 brands and 21 models. Despite the low proportion of clean mobility in Morocco, this type of vehicle has doubled in the space of just 2 years! From year to year, the offering is expanding with hybrid and electric technologies, less polluting engines, and very inexpensive in terms of maintenance. In 2018, this type of cars did not exceed 25 units. In 2019, it increased to 89 vehicles, then to 139 in 2020, before rising to 688 in 2021, including 421 plug-in hybrids. These are essentially passenger cars equipped with hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric technologies. The observation today is that there are more sales on the hybrid than on the electric. Admittedly, Morocco is still in the infancy of clean mobility and of the electric ecosystem.
The challenge is to succeed in the transition from internal combustion engines to electric ones. “The transition took 10 years in Europe. In Morocco, it should take much less time”, said Fabrice Crevola, General Manager of Renault Commerce Morocco. To achieve this, one will first have to remove the barriers to the purchase of vehicles. This requires incentives, assistance, subsidies, as well more affordable and accessible prices. The goal is to make electricity accessible to as many buyers as possible. “Prices will be more affordable if there are Government incentives. The emergence of electricity goes first through an incentive system”, say the car dealers, unanimously. That’s what the whole challenge is all about! Until then, the existing offering remains very limited, mainly in the high-end closed circle.
Today, the challenge is to develop public infrastructure in cities, streets, and garages, and to multiply charging stations in hypermarkets, businesses, upkeep, and maintenance networks, etc. In addition, the vehicle fleet of the Government, state-owned enterprises, public agencies, and the like, will have to set an example and show the way to other stakeholders, in particular the vehicle fleets of private groups, the institutions which defend the energy transition, the research centers, and other stakeholders … More important still, the buy-in from the general public depends on efforts in terms of awareness, communication, and demos, with supporting scientific arguments. In the meantime, the Moroccan electricity market is starting with an equation with several unknowns (incentives, terminals and infrastructure, enthusiasm, acceptance of uses, etc.). It should be noted that within 6 years (in 2028), one out of three cars sold in the world will be electric! In other words, sales of electric cars should explode in the coming years.
Amin RBOUB
