Lhe electric car is on the rise, especially in developed countries. The volume of sales reached 6.6 million units, i.e. double that of 2020. Everything suggests that registrations will experience a meteoric rise in the years to come, especially since many manufacturers have decided to stop the production of vehicles with internal combustion engines. In this context, the European Parliament voted a motion announcing the cessation of production of all combustion engines by 2035.
Faced with these upheavals, Morocco is lagging behind. The market is still dominated by diesel cars and their share exceeds 95%. Although distributors have made the effort to launch several models of electric vehicles on the market, the sales volume is very insignificant. In 2018, the number of such cars hardly exceeded 25 units. It rose to 89 in 2019, 139 in 2020, then to 688 in 2021, including 421 rechargeable hybrids.
It should be remembered that within the framework of COP22, organized in Morocco, a consortium bringing together the RenaultNissan, Schneider-Electric and M2M Group alliance was set up to promote electric mobility in Morocco. Other initiatives have been announced in this direction, but various constraints have hindered the switchover of Moroccan motorists to electric.
“Morocco cannot lag behind with what is happening internationally. It has fallen far behind in encouraging the electric car. It must take draconian measures on the regulatory level and launch a dedicated system, in particular requiring oil companies and municipalities to install charging stations. In a few years, there will be no more cars with thermal engines and we must prepare for this transition.says Karim Kadiri, automotive consultant.
Two major constraints stand out to encourage electric vehicles in Morocco. These are the weakness of the network of charging stations and the prices. For the first point, the number of charging stations in the Kingdom is less than 100 units. They are mainly located in a few service stations and are only available on the motorway network and a few prestigious sites.
In France, for example, there are nearly 58,000 units of this type well distributed throughout the national territory. Faced with this situation, the Moroccan motorist cannot opt for an electric car for his interurban travel, because the best vehicles in the category have a maximum autonomy of 400 km. Price is also a deterrent. Most of the offers available on the Moroccan market come from luxury brands such as BMW i4, marketed from 815,000 DH, or Audi e-tron, offered from 1,050,000 DH. A few years ago, Renault had launched the experiment of renting electric cars, in particular Zoe and Tweezy, but this initiative did not give the expected effects.
Dacia wants to invest in the segment by launching a very competitive offer. With Spring, the low-cost brand aims to put an affordable vehicle on the market, for an average price of around 200,000 DH. “It is a competitive and interesting offer for the Moroccan market. It is essentially dedicated to urban or peri-urban travel. This launch will be the prelude to encouraging motorists to adopt this type of car.explains Fabrice Crevola, director of the Dacia brand in Morocco and director of Renault Commerce Morocco.