Kandi Signs Framework Agreement with Zhejiang Ruibo to Serve as the Primary Vehicle Provider of 300,000 Electric Vehicles Within 5 Years
01/23/2019
JINHUA, CHINA-- (January 22, 2019) - Kandi Technologies Group, Inc. (the “Company,” “we” or “Kandi”) (NASDAQ GS: KNDI), announced today that Kandi Electric Vehicles Co., Ltd. (the “JV Company”, an equally held joint venture by Kandi Vehicles and Geely Group, Ltd.) led the efforts in organizing a five-year online ride-sharing service alliance in Hangzhou on January 13, 2019 (the “Online Ride-sharing Service Alliance”). The Online Ride-sharing Alliance was initiated by Zhejiang Ruibo New Energy Vehicle Service Company Ltd. (“Zhejiang Ruibo”). Its goal is to provide 300,000 government-accredited vehicles within five years. Participating companies from more than ten cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Xiamen jointly signed the alliance agreement. On January 18, 2019, the JV Company signed a Framework Agreement with Zhejiang Ruibo to provide 300,000 government-accredited vehicles for the ride-sharing service within five years as the primary vehicle supplier.
Mr. Hu Xiaoming, Chairman of Kandi Electric Vehicle Group, commented, “The time-sharing micro public transportation (MPT) project innovated by Kandi in 2013 was a big hit nationwide. However, because of the surge in internet users and the increasing popularity of ride-sharing services, time-sharing micro public transportation services have been gradually evolving and upgrading to compete with newer online ride-sharing services. Currently, there are more than 3 million vehicles operated for online ride-sharing services, 90% of which are not government-accredited. According to the Chinese government’s related regulations, drivers of online ride-sharing services and their vehicles must have two government-approved documents — an online ride-sharing driver’s license and a reserved transport permit. Presently, the vast majority of vehicles used for online ride-sharing are privately owned by drivers as their own personal assets. If the privately-owned vehicles are to be converted into reserved passenger vehicles, the insurance for one vehicle would increase by more than RMB 10,000 (approximately USD 1470). Additionally, the vehicles must be totaled after a designated period of use, which means that the used vehicles then become less valuable. Therefore, most household vehicle owners are reluctant to convert privately owned vehicles into operating vehicles for online ride-sharing services, resulting in over 90% of vehicles in operation not being government-accredited.”
“The related state department is aiming to impose restrictions on car-sharing operations to legalize and standardize the industry. We believe that 2019 will be the perfect time to rectify the use of non-government-accredited ride-sharing vehicles, as well as to mark the entry point for pure electric vehicles being officially introduced to the ride-sharing market. Given Kandi’s specialty in producing quick-change batteries for pure electric vehicles, getting into the online ride-sharing market would have inherent advantages for the Company. To seize the opportunity of the fast-growing online ride-sharing market, we believe our involvement in organizing the online ride-sharing alliance over five-year arrangement to provide 300,000 government-accredited vehicles is a meaningful milestone,” concluded Mr. Hu.
