Qatar-Germany partnership seen to accelerate EV market rollout

Owing to robust government-to-government (G2G) partnerships between Qatar and Germany, discussions on hydrogen energy, efficient building technologies, and sustainable modes of transportation, especially e-mobility, are on track, an official of AHK Gulf has said."For the past couple of years, we have had G2G-driven energy and climate partnerships; the one with Qatar is still quite young compared to the UAE. (But) there’s already an excellent communication channel at the government level."And we, as AHK, have been, in both cases, mandated by the German government to get the private sector involved," AHK Gulf Regional CEO Oliver Oehms told Gulf Times in an interview.Unlike Saudi Arabia, which has a nationwide grid of charging stations, Oehms said Qatar presents an interesting case for e-mobility since the country is mostly a city-state with short distances."We see an interesting case in Qatar. Distances are short; it’s relatively easy and different from other countries like Saudi Arabia. So, there’s an interesting potential for quickly accelerating the market rollout of e-vehicles not only on a commercial but also on a private basis," Oehms noted.According to Oehms, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is a key shareholder of Siemens, which is one of the leading global companies pushing the topic of electrification and digitalisation."From this perspective, Qatar plays an active role in that area. And we know that QIA is continuously looking into complementary investment targets in Germany, therefore, Qatar has the potential to play an important role as an equity partner, a strategic partner for these mid- to long-term developments," Oehms said.Aside from e-mobility, Oehms also noted that climate conditions and the many high-rise buildings across the region, including Qatar, there’s "an interesting potential" in introducing technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of those buildings.Asked about potential partnerships in smart cities, citing Msheireb and Lusail, Oehms said: "There’s a lot of German technology already in those smart cities, making the assets fairly green. This is due to German and other European technology providers."Oehms said, "I would underline that Qatar, with its robust financial and diplomatic capabilities, has the chance to be not only an influencer but also a role model and, again, an equity partner in green sustainable projects in other parts of the world.He added: "We have seen that Qatar has been starting to play a more active role in Africa. Utilising German technology, Qatari influence and funding, and emerging markets, such as, in this case, Africa, is an interesting business case and this is something that we would love to engage more often."