Ride-hailing giant Grab and South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Group are gearing up to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Southeast Asia.
The companies had forged a partnership to spruce up the use of EVs in Southeast Asia in 2018.
Grab and Hyundai will launch the new pilot programmes in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, in a bid to test new business models of electric vehicles, besides studying battery and car leasing arrangements, and electrified vehicle financing options.
Both companies will also review gaps and bottlenecks pertaining to ownership of electric vehicles as they jointly look forward to develop a roadmap for making EVs a more viable option for on-demand mobility and delivery services. Grab currently has the largest driver network in the region.
Minsung Kim, vice president of the innovation division at Hyundai Motor Group, said both the companies aim to increase EV adoption and reduce carbon emission across the region. “Beyond the ongoing projects, the company also looks forward to an additional partnership with Grab to be a key driver in leading the future mobility market in Southeast Asia,” Kim said in a statement.
While the EV adoption is relatively new in the region, Russell Cohen, group managing director of operations at Grab, said that the firm plans to collaborate with the government and its partners to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles through data-driven trials.
Besides the partnership with Hyundai, Grab also announced its initiative to decrease carbon footprint. Its users will soon be able to reduce their carbon footprint when riding with Grab through the newly-launched carbon offset feature in the app.
The new feature will be launched in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand in July before being released in other countries.
Grab has claimed that it will invest more than $200 million to build electric and hybrid vehicles in the car fleet in Singapore, as one of the steps to reduce its carbon footprint.