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The moves come as Beijing continues its push into the new energy
vehicle (NEV) sector as part of efforts to cut pollution and
boost cutting-edge technology.
Caocao Zhuanche, a chauffeur ride-hailing platform backed by
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group [GEELY.UL], is aiming raise up to 3
billion yuan ($437 million) in a new funding round, at a
valuation of about $3 billion, three people said.
EvCard, an electric vehicle rental service under state-owned
SAIC Motor Corp, is also considering raising some 2 billion yuan
($292 million) from external investors, according to a person
with direct knowledge.
Both platforms claim that they are the first in China to offer
such NEV car-sharing services. Caocao currently operates across
25 cities in China with a fleet of around 16,000 Geely-produced
new energy vehicles, while EvCard has operations in 62 cities
with over 27,000 cars in use, according to their websites.
Caocao could not be reached for comment via its customer service
hotline. A Geely spokesman declined to comment.
EvCard and SAIC did not respond to requests for comment. The
people could not be identified as the information is
confidential.
China's NEV sector is expanding rapidly with as many as 102
firms producing 355 different kinds of electric, hybrid and
fuel-cell vehicles by the end of March, according to government
data.
Start-up electric carmakers such as NIO, WM Motor Technology Co
and Xpeng Motor have also raised funds totaling billions of
dollars from heavyweight investors including Chinese tech giants
Alibaba Group Holdings, Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings.
China's ride-hailing champion, Didi Chuxing, in February said it
would set up an electric car-sharing service with 12 automakers
including BYD Co Ltd, local partners of Ford Motor Co, the
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance and Geely.
Named after Cao Cao, a Chinese warlord during the period of the
Three Kingdoms circa 220-280 AD, Geely's platform employs its
own chauffeurs and also offers business rides and same-city
package delivery services, according to its website.
In January, the platform reached a valuation of 10 billion yuan
($1.5 billion) after a 1 billion yuan funding round.
EvCard, which rents out cars by the hour, tied up with BMW Group
in December to launch a co-branded service in Southwestern
China's Chengdu.
(Reporting by Kane Wu and Julie Zhu; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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