Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, which has over 600,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on its platform, will form a joint venture with BP—one of the leading fuel retailing and convenience businesses in the world — to build EV charging infrastructure in China, said the firm a press release.
BP’s first charging site in Guangzhou, the capital of South China’s Guangdong province, has already been connected to Didi’s open automobile solutions platform. The joint venture will see the development and operation of the charging network scaling up significantly.
Before this joint venture with BP, Didi formed strategic alliances with the State Grid of China and China Southern Grid to expand charging facilities.
BP acquired an EV charging company in 2018 and renamed it BP Chargemaster. It is now rolling out ultra-fast chargers at sites in the United Kingdom, according to a statement from the company.
BP also invested in StoreDot, a fast-charging battery technology firm, according to the statement, and it has contributed to Nio Capital’s investment fund, which is focused on China’s new energy vehicle ecosystem. It has also bought a stake in PowerShare, which offers an online platform connecting EV drivers, charge point operators, and power suppliers.
China’s EV charging sector, which currently cannot fully meet demands from EV owners, has seen mounting investor interest recently.
WM Motor, an electric vehicle maker backed by Baidu, is cooperating with TGood, one of the largest EV charging operators in China, Â to jointly build and maintain a WM-branded charging network.
Volkswagen and two of China’s automobile manufacturers, FAW and JAC, have established a joint venture in Changzhou, a city in China’s Jiangsu province, with Star Charge, one of China’s leading EV chargers. This joint venture called CAMS aims to build up a smart charging infrastructure ecosystem in China.
