Grab announced today that another round of fresh funds have been injected into its company, with Hyundai and Kia pumping in another US$250 million.
This additional investment builds on Grab’s existing partnership with Hyundai which dates back in January.
This investment also brings Grab’s current fundraising to US$2.7 billion. To this, the firm asserted that it is financially on track to raise over US$3 billion by the end of this year.
In line with this partnership, the three companies will launch a series of EV (electric vehicles) pilot projects in Southeast Asia in 2019, starting with Singapore.
The pilot projects will focus on utilising EVs to maximise cost efficiencies for Grab’s driver-partners, and Grab will lease 200 EVs from Hyundai and Kia.
The firms will work with regional stakeholders, including governments and infrastructure players, to improve the EV infrastructure in the region, such as the building of a network of quick-charge stations.
This follows Grab’s earlier announcement in August, which reveals that Grab is rolling out a fleet of new EVs which will tap on Singapore Power’s (SP) fast-charging network.
This partnership will also explore the development of customised maintenance packages to Grab EV drivers and conduct research into how EVs can be most efficiently deployed in SEA under hot and humid climate conditions.
Beyond this, it will also look at ways on customising EVs to optimise them for mobility service platforms.
“As the largest fleet owner of EVs in Singapore, we are excited to establish an industry partnership with Hyundai Motor Group to drive EV adoption across Southeast Asia,” said Ming Maa, president of Grab.
“We both share a common vision on the electrification of mobility as one of the key foundations for building an environmentally sustainable and lowest-cost transportation platform.”
Featured Image Credit: Grab
