China's Uber is going to build a charging network to cover millions of electric cars
Didi Chuxing, which famously defeated Uber in China and conquered its huge domestic market, is planning to build an expansive charging network to support millions of electric cars.
The ride-hailing company has 21 million drivers, out of which 260,000 are driving electrics. That's a mindbending one quarter share of the world's entire two million EVs (electric vehicles) on the road -- and Didi said it expects its EV fleet to hit one million in 2020.
On Thursday, Didi pledged that its planned charging network would be large enough to also support other EVs owned by members of the public.
It will start building together with partnerships with other companies. Didi recently started working with Swedish firm NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden), which acquired automotive company Saab's assets in 2012.
NEVS has been focusing on building electric cars for the Chinese market, and in June this year resurrected a Saab with electric guts, produced in China.
Didi hasn't said how broad its network will be, but it's safe to assume that initial works will start in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing, both of which have already jumped headlong into EV adoption.
In September, the Chinese government said it will eventually stop bringing gasoline cars into the country -- the world's biggest car market.
Tesla also recently secured plans to build a car factory in Shanghai, where it already operates the world's largest Tesla super charging facility, able to support 50 Teslas charging simultaneously.
Topics Electric Vehicles
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
