Brazilian ride-hailing app 99 said it has signed a partnership agreement with BYD to begin testing an electric car developed for its ride-hailing software drivers, according to foreign media reports Tuesday, local time.
The electric car, developed by BYD and China’s DDT, will begin testing this week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the goal of accelerating the adoption of electric cars in the 99 fleet.
Founded in 2012 as a startup focused on urban mobility in Brazil, 99, which is Uber’s biggest competitor in the country, was acquired by Drip on Jan. 4, 2018, according to publicly available information. The acquisition intensifies Drip’s global competition with Uber, particularly in Latin America.
Prior to its acquisition by Drip, Drip had first invested $100 million in 99 in January 2017, gaining equity and operating rights in the latter.
BYD started with batteries and now has 100% independent R&D, design and production capabilities in the battery sector. Today, the company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Recently, the latest retail data for January-June 2022 released by the Passenger Association showed that BYD, SAIC-GM-Wuling and Tesla China ranked the top three in terms of sales in the first half of this year. Among them, BYD sales totaled 633,777,000 units, up 317.6% year-on-year, with a 28.2% market share.
