Didi and BP in charging stations joint venture

Didi Chuxing has agreed to set up a joint venture with energy and gas giant BP to build electric vehicle charging stations in China.

They will provide charging services to vehicle owners even if they have no association with Didi.

BP’s first charging site in Guangzhou has already been connected to Didi’s open automobile solutions platform through a pilot program. 

The two parties aim to speed up the development and operation of the charging network following the setup of the joint venture.

Didi also opened its ride-sharing platform last month to other companies, enabling its users to request rides via third-party providers in a bid to better compete with other online mapping and lifestyle services such as Meituan Dianping and AutoNavi.

Didi formed agreements with FAW Group Corporation, Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co to integrate the external partners' ride hailing with Didi's existing platform. More collaborators are set to follow suits.

Last year the ride-hailing platform also set up a separate company called Xiaoju Automobile Solutions to focus on vehicle-related services.

“As the world’s largest EV market, China offers extraordinary opportunities to develop innovative new businesses at scale," said BP’s Downstream chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic. 

"We see this as the perfect partnership for such a fast-evolving environment and the lessons we learn here will help us further drive  energy transition and develop solutions for a low carbon world."

Didi operates some 600,000 electric vehicles and seeks to leverage its data analytics capability to offer a wide-range of services for automakers, fleet operators and energy partners. EV charging is one of its priority, the company said.