The launch of an EV charging station on the E11 highway is set to significantly improve electric vehicle travel between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The development strengthens the UAE’s EV infrastructure and supports the country’s sustainability and smart mobility initiatives.
ADNOC Distribution, a gas station and convenience store chain in the United Arab Emirates, has opened a large new EV charging hub, and unveiled a roadmap to electrify the UAE highway network by the end of 2027.
Located at Saih Shuaib, one of the UAE's busiest inter-emirate corridors, the site brings 60 superfast chargers into a single highway location, a scale rarely seen in the region and aimed at eliminating queues, detours and range anxiety for long-distance commuters.
“This isn’t about the charger itself, it’s about the hub,” said Jacqueline Elboghdadi, Chief Marketing Officer at Adnoc Distribution. “A typical station might have five or six chargers. Here, the magnitude changes the experience entirely.”
The hub is part of Adnoc Distribution’s plan to electrify the UAE’s main highway corridors, which connects cities with charging locations drivers can depend on during everyday travel.
According to Elboghdadi, “People worry: Will the range be enough? Will the charger be free? Will it even work? When you put a large hub on a vital highway, you remove that mental barrier. You can commute with confidence.”
The E11 site was designed using traffic flow and demand modelling, with the number of chargers set to allow drivers to reduce waiting time.
EV charging takes longer than refuelling. The company has considered that and designed the site to help drivers use time productively. This hub includes dedicated work pods, enclosed spaces with desks, Wi-Fi, bathroom facilities and basic amenities, allowing motorists to take calls or work briefly while their vehicle charges.
“This is a commuter-first hub,” Elboghdadi said. “People might need to jump on a conference call, answer emails or just stop comfortably during a weekday journey. While a full charge can take under 20 minutes for most vehicles, the added facilities are meant to make that stop feel purposeful rather than inconvenient,” she added.
The company has employed trained attendants at the charging points to reduce EV anxiety among first-time users.
The charging process is app-based and fully digital, but Adnoc Distribution found that first-time users often hesitate when charging away from home. “There’s always that first-time fear, will it glitch, will I do it right?” Elboghdadi said. “Having someone on the ground to help you through it makes a big difference.”
The company plans to open a second EV hub in Ghantout, directly opposite the Saih Shuaib location, to serve traffic in the other direction and cover both sides of the Abu Dhabi–Dubai commute.
Although the hub officially launched in January, 2026, it has been operating since December, with a soft opening that already attracted more than 100 vehicles a day. Fleet operators and taxi services were among the early users.
The Adnoc Distribution revealed the plan of building a network of highway EV hubs across the UAE, with the number of chargers at each site based on traffic demand rather than a fixed template.