Didi sets up Hangzhou division for sharing electric cars

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Didi Chuxing (Didi), the Chinese ride-sharing giant has set up a new division in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province to specialize in businesses of electric vehicle-sharing and electric bike-sharing according to the information from unnamed sources.

On January 9, 2018, Didi and Bluegoo (one of China's bike-sharing brands) announced that Didi will take over a part of Bluegogo’s business and users are allowed to ride Bluegogo’s bikes using Didi app without any deposit in the near future. Meanwhile, Didi also stated that it will launch their own bike-sharing platform cooperating with many other bike-sharing brands. It is widely considered in industry that Didi’s new move in the area of EV-sharing and E-bike-sharing may intensify the competition in travelling field.

In fact, Didi has long held the idea of developing its vehicle-sharing business. At 4th World Internet Conference in December last year, Cheng Wei, CEO and founder of Didi, revealed that Didi also has thoughts on vehicle-sharing service while it needs time to make planning and decide operation details. Up to now, Didi has already promoted 11 types of vehicle services, such as car rental, designated driving and hitching, etc. 

In addition, other bike-sharing brands are also accelerating their layouts in vehicle-sharing area. At the end of 2017, Mobike started a trial operation of vehicle-sharing in Gui’an new area, Guizhou Province and received an investment from FAW Car, a subsidiary of FAW Group.