Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Chinese EV maker BYD announced today that they are exploring closer collaboration in new energy vehicle technologies. A Joint Development Agreement signed by Saudi Aramco Technologies Company (SATC), Aramco’s wholly-owned subsidiary, and BYD aims to foster the development of innovative technologies that enhance efficiency and environmental performance.
“The collaboration between SATC and BYD aims to support energy efficiency improvements, and it builds on Aramco’s extensive research and development of new energy solutions. Aramco is exploring a number of ways to potentially optimize transport efficiency, from innovative lower-carbon fuels to advanced powertrain concepts,” stated Ali A. Al-Meshari, Aramco senior vice president of technology oversight & coordination.
Cooperation to support climate change efforts
Aramco and BYD’s collaboration will leverage the research and development teams of the two leading global companies, with the aim of achieving new energy vehicle breakthroughs.
“At the crossroads of technological innovation and environmental protection, BYD always believes that true breakthroughs come from openness and collaboration. We expect that SATC and our cutting-edge R&D capabilities in new energy vehicles will break the boundaries of geography and mindset to incubate solutions that combine highly efficient performance with a lower carbon footprint. We are confident that this will support the world’s efforts to address the climate challenge,” added Luo Hongbin, senior vice president of BYD.
BYD expands cooperation with Saudi Arabia
BYD latest collaboration with Aramco further extends its regional footprint. Earlier this year, BYD Energy Storage and the Saudi Electricity Company successfully signed the world’s largest grid-scale energy storage projects contracts with a capacity of 12.5GWh at the time. Combined with the previously delivered 2.6GWh project, the total cooperation now amounts to a massive 15.1GWh of projects.
This signing marked a solid and crucial step forward in their collaboration in the renewable energy sector, injecting strong momentum into the development of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy industry and contributing to the realization of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals.
In January this year, BYD also signed a deal with Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Co., a joint venture between Saudi Electricity Co. and the Public Investment Fund, and Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility, to install high-speed electric vehicle charging stations at Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility locations across Saudi Arabia.
