BP and DiDi Chuxing partner on EV charging infrastructure

Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi Chuxing has announced a joint venture with BP to build EV charging infrastructure in China.

The joint venture will develop hubs to provide EV charging services to DiDi’s drivers and the public. The partners also intend to expand the venture into loyalty and convenience offerings, as well as other fleet services in the near future.

China is well-known as the world leader in electric vehicle adoption; approximately half of the battery EVs in the world today are located in China. The partnership will see the two companies work together to develop a network of EV charging hubs across the country. 

DiDi’s platform has more than 600,000 EVs running on it in China, and approximately 550 million users across its various services, encompassing ride-hailing and car-sharing among others.

Cheng Wei, Chairman and CEO of DiDi, said: “We look forward to combining our strengths to create a robust EV charging network for China, promote the growth of the new energy automotive industry, and provide better experience for car owners across the country.”

Meanwhile, his BP counterpart, Tufan Erginbilgic, BP’s Downstream chief executive, said: “As the world’s largest EV market, China offers extraordinary opportunities to develop innovative new businesses at scale and we see this as the perfect partnership for such a fast-evolving environment. The lessons we learn here will help us further expand BP’s advanced mobility business worldwide, helping drive the energy transition and develop solutions for a low carbon world.

“Combining BP’s global retail capability, EV charging expertise and experience with DiDi’s unrivalled mobility service platform, our partnership will aggregate demand and provide high-quality, fast, reliable and safe charging for DiDi drivers and the public in China. DiDi is already converting to electric vehicles and has a very large user base, so we expect to drive high utilisation of charging assets from day one.”