Lack of chargers is hurting electric Porsche sales, says chief

• Regional infrastructure is lagging
• Porsche EVs were 10% of sales in 2025
• Middle East CEO speaks to media

Porsche’s regional chief says shortcomings in charging infrastructure have held back electric vehicle sales across the Middle East, Africa, the Levant and India, leaving the region trailing the German luxury carmaker’s global trajectory.

The remarks highlight a structural mismatch across the region, where policy ambitions to accelerate electric vehicle adoption are colliding with slower progress on charging infrastructure, especially in dense, apartment-heavy cities.

EVs accounted for just one-tenth of Porsche’s sales in the region in 2025, according to Manfred Bräunl, CEO of Porsche Middle East and Africa.

“If you’re living in a high rise today, somewhere in the Middle East, very often you cannot put in an individual charger that charges your vehicle and this shies some people away because they don’t want to drive to a mall or wherever and wait. Customers want convenience,” Bräunl said at a media round table on Monday.

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Although the UAE has been investing heavily in renewable energy projects with a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, as of 2023 there were only around 2,000 public charging points deployed across the country and more than 65 percent of those were slow chargers, according to a study from PwC.

Demand is forecast to be 45,000 charging points by 2035 to meet the UAE’s National Electric Vehicles Policy target of electric and hybrid vehicles making up half of all vehicles on its roads by 2050.

However, the global consultancy said at the current rate of rollout there will only be 10,000 charging points in the UAE by 2035.

Porsche has installed 375 destination chargers across the region. These are typically found at hotels, cinemas, cafes and shopping centres and are AC-powered, requiring up to 8 hours for a full charge.

In 2025 over one-third of Porsche cars delivered worldwide were electrified, with 22 percent being fully electric and 12 percent plug-in hybrids.

Porsche launched its first electric car in 2019 with the Taycan. In 2023 the company brought the Macan Electric to market and the new Cayenne Electric had its first public viewing at the Icons of Porsche annual festival in Dubai in November, with a view to launching later this year.

“Over the next years, I believe that this (10 percent sales) will increase. By how much and how fast, I cannot tell you because countries will be very different,” Bräunl said.

Total deliveries across the Middle East, Africa, Levant and India region have grown 55 percent since 2020, according to the company’s latest sales results. The celebrated 911 sports car range made up 23 percent of total sales in the region.