British energy giant BP is joining forces with China’s Didi Chuzing to build charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in the East Asian country.
They are forming a joint venture to develop a network of charging hubs for EV drivers across China and have already opened a pilot site in Guangzhou. with 10 fast charging units ranging from 60kW to 120kW.
DiDi’s transportation platform. which offers users a range of app-based options including ride hailing. already has around 550 million users and 600.000 EVs running on it.
China is the world’s largest and fastest developing EV market. with around 50% of the world’s battery powered EVs.
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.“