Tesla launches in Saudi Arabia despite country's past feud with Musk

This week, Tesla officially started selling cars in Saudi Arabia

a country that once feuded with the automaker's CEO, Elon Musk. The Saudi EV market is still in its early stages

with limited infrastructure to support these electric models. In all of 2023, only 2,000 EVs were sold in the country

a total which is less than half of the cars Tesla sold on an average day during that same year

Meanwhile, as of 2024, Saudi Arabia has installed only 101 EV charging stations

most of which are located in major cities, making long journeys across desert roads unfeasible

In fact, there are zero chargers on a 559-mile stretch of the country's main east-west highway

connecting its capital of Riyadh and the holy city of Mecca. These roadblocks facing EV adoption aren't the only potential challenges Tesla faces in expanding into Saudi Arabia

There's also the strained relationship between Musk and the nation's public investment fund dating back to 2018

The dispute started when Musk said in a social media post he secured financing from the fund to take Tesla private but later claimed the fund backpedaled on this commitment As Saudi officials asserted they were merely interested in the proposal and had never guaranteed

support. This disagreement led to tense exchanges between Musk and representatives of the fund

as well as a securities fraud lawsuit brought by Tesla investors against both the company

and its CEO. Despite all this, though, Tesla still sees promise in bringing its business

to Saudi Arabia. Musk is now on better terms with the country's government after taking on a high-profile role

in the administration of President Trump, who is actually expected to visit Saudi Arabia

in the coming weeks. There's also a number of planned improvements for the country's EV sector on the way

Saudi Arabia is reportedly investing an estimated $39 billion towards these efforts, which include

a goal of having 30% of vehicles in its capital be electric by 2030, and establishing a company

to expand its public charging network to 5,000 chargers also by the end of the decade

Other EV makers similarly believe these plans hold promise, as China's BYD, Tesla's top competitor, has already established a showroom in Saudi Arabia

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Jack Elmer