South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group and Grab, Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing company, announced to boost their partnership to increase the popularity of electric vehicles in Southeast Asia.
Hyundai Motor Co. said in a statement on June 23 that the company and Grab are expanding their electric car service from Singapore and Indonesia to Malaysia and Vietnam.

For Grab Singapore, which spearheaded the pilot project, the main problems with the service are high costs, lack of charging piles, and long charging times. For this reason, the two companies are considering offering battery rental and replacement services as well as related financial products and services.

The two sides also plan to conduct feasibility studies on electric vehicles and provide research results to relevant government departments to accelerate establishing an electric vehicle ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

The first collaboration between Hyundai and Grab began in 2018 and launched pilot electric vehicle programs in Singapore and Indonesia in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Grab deployed 200 Hyundai Kona electric cars in Singapore through the program and launched GrabCar Elektrik, an electric vehicle service, at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia with Hyundai IONIQ models.