CHJ Auto teams up with Didi to build ride-sharing cars
April 17, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
CHJ Auto, the Beijing-based electric-start-up founded by internet entrepreneur Li Xiang, has teamed up with Didi Chuxing, the market leader in China’s on-demand transportation market, to develop the first car designed specifically for ride-pooling. “The goal of our cooperation is to bring down trip costs, the lower the better. In just two years, Chinese ride-sharers will see a significant step-up in services,” Li said.
CHJ is among the electric car start-ups that have sprouted up in recent years after the Chinese government started handing out special manufacturing permits to non-traditional carmakers with the aim of injecting innovation and competition. These tech-savvy start-ups are chasing a vision of clean, connected and self-driving vehicles, inspired by Tesla Motors’s Elon Musk. With the Didi tie-up, CHJ plans to develop a luxury seven-seater SUV targeting mid- to high-end users, with deliveries slated for next year. Ride-hailing has changed the concept of car ownership in China, especially among the young, who are used to traffic jams and waiting for years to obtain a car license plate in a major city like Beijing.
Ride-hailing orders have increased to almost 30 million a day in a market dominated by Didi, which elbowed Uber out of China after an expensive subsidy war. Li Xiang thinks the market could grow another tenfold by 2030, with ride-sharing accounting for half of all commutes. Founded in 2015, CHJ closed its B round of fundraising last month, raising CNY3 billion from a group of investors led by Matrix Partner China and Shouting Fund. The total amount of financing has reached CNY5.75 billion and is expected to surpass CNY10 billion by the year end. CHJ has two manufacturing facilities in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, and an annual production capacity of 80 million battery cells, the South China Morning Post reports.
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