BP and China’s Didi Chuxing (DiDi) have agreed to form a new joint venture to build electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in China, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. The new joint venture plans to develop a network of EV charging hubs across the country.

DiDi is the world’s leading multi-modal transportation platform, offering users a full range of app-based options, including ride-hailing, automobile solutions sharing, and other services. Its platform already has approximately 550 million users and more than 600,000 EVs are running on it in China.

BP has a global fuels retailing and convenience business operating in 16 countries worldwide, with more than 18,700 retail sites, and with a significant and rapidly-growing presence in China.

The joint venture will develop standalone, reliable and high-quality charging 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 and other fleet services in the near future.

“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,” said Tufan Erginbilgic, BP’s Downstream chief executive.

“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.”

“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,” said Cheng Wei, chairman and CEO of DiDi.

BP and DiDi have already opened a pilot site in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, with 10 fast-charging units, ranging from 60-120kW. This site will migrate into the joint venture once live. The venture aims to expand rapidly, with an ambition to quickly become the leading EV charging provider in China.