Policy Alignment for Electric Mobility in Saudi Arabia: An L₁ Norm Decomposition Approach

Saudi Arabia has set ambitious electric mobility targets under Vision 2030, yet the extent of policy alignment with these objectives remains uncertain. This study applies an L ₁ Norm (Manhattan Distance) based decomposition framework to quantify policy misalignment across five pillars: adoption targets, charging infrastructure, consumer incentives, domestic manufacturing, and regulations and standards. Results indicate that Saudi Arabia’s EV policy framework exhibits a normalized deviation of 0.68, implying only 32% cumulative alignment with the Vision 2030 benchmark. Decomposition analysis reveals that charging infrastructure, consumer incentives, and regulatory standards each account for 23.5% of the total misalignment, while adoption targets contribute 17.6%, and domestic manufacturing shows relatively lower shortfalls at 11.8%. These findings highlight that demand-enabling policies remain the most critical barriers to achieving EV mobility goals. By pinpointing the relative contribution of each pillar to the overall policy gap, the study provides a diagnostic basis for prioritizing reforms and sequencing interventions. The L ₁ decomposition framework thus offers a transparent and replicable tool for evidence-based policymaking in the Saudi context and can be extended to other emerging EV markets facing similar implementation challenges.