Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi plans to have a fleet of 10 million electric vehicles on the roads in 10 years’ time.
While attending the Beijing Auto Show, the technology company revealed that it has formed an alliance with 31 auto industry companies, including Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, to develop EVs for its fleet.
In 2017, Didi had 260,000 electric vehicles in its and intends on lifting that figure to 1 million by 2020 before hitting the aforementioned goal in 2028. Automotive News reports that it also wants to quadruple its user base from the current 450 million to roughly 2 billion people worldwide in the coming decade.
“China could play a pivotal role in transforming the existing automotive and transportation structure that has been in place for over 100 years,” Didi chief executive Cheng Wei said. “The alliance is a gateway for our transportation industry to elevate itself from a global leader in scale to a global leader in innovation.”
Since muscling Uber out of the Chinese market in August 2016, Didi has started to expand its operations overseas. It now operates in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Latin America and has formed partnerships with ride-hailing companies like 99 in Brazil, Grab in Southeast Asia, Ola in India and Taxify in Europe. Additionally, Didi operates a strategic partnership with Careem in the Middle East and North Africa.