Accelerating Electric Vehicle Diffusion in South East Asia’s Ride-Hailing Sector: A Diffusion of Innovation Analysis of the Grab-BYD Strategic Partnership

In the Southeast Asia region, the transport sector is undergoing rapid transformation, being the foremost impact area in the climate agenda over the last few years. Target zero emissions in the transport sector and than focus on EV. This is also the case in the rides sector which is very pivotal in Southeast Asia. A prime example is Grab super app in the region which in partnership with global EV manufacturer BYD is rolling out more than 50,000 EVs across 6 Southeast Asian countries, a first in the region. The author in this paper conducts desk qualitative research where he examines and reconciles information from promotional documents, white papers, and other scholarly and unscholarly literature. This paper utilizes Rogers (1962) Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory to explain the collaboration of the manufacturer and the platform in a bid to foster the rapid adoption of EVs among ride-hailing driver-partners. The first of its kind in the region, the partnership positioned itself as an ecosystems orchestrator, and through this collaboration, the partnership transcended the obstacles to the adoption of EVs. Through constructing an entire product with wrapped vehicular access, tailored financing options, extended contractual warranties, and IoT systems, the collaboration targets the ‘early adopter’ and ‘early majority’ segments. This paper contributes to the focus on this distinctive, unprecedented large-scale model diffusion of technology, specifically in the private sector, in emerging markets. The evidence collected suggests that these organized platform collaborations, where technology and dual market are merged, are likely to lead in the intersection of sustainable technology in the Global South.