Electric car-sharing scheme launched in Paris
Mon 03 October 2011
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The city of Paris has launched the first electric car-sharing scheme, 'Autolib'. Its advocates say the scheme will help in cutting noise and air pollution while discouraging private car ownership and boosting the profile of electric vehicles.
The Autolib scheme offers small, ‘green’ city cars like the Peugoet 107, Citroën C1, Twingo 2 and the Toyota Aygo, which all have CO2 emissions under 150 g/km, as well as Toyota’s Prius hybrid and an ultra-compact, lithium-metal-polymer battery powered called the Bluecar.
Users pay a membership fee of €10 and can hire vehicles from €2.10 per hour, or €4-8 per hour for the electric Bluecar. The €235 million scheme, backed by Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, will start with 66 cars on offer at 33 rental stations and is intended to expand to 3000 vehicles and 1000 rental stations by the end of 2012.
The cars are being provided by entrepreneur Vincent Bollore and manufactured by the Italian designer Pininfarina. They will have a range of up to 250 km before a recharge, which will take about four hours.
Reuters reports that the idea for Autolib arose from a study published by Chronos TNS Sofres which found that 25% of French citizens have cut back or abandoned using their cars due to steep increases in insurance and parking costs. "We want to persuade people to shift from the concept of owning a car to that of using a car," Autolib General Manager Morald Chibout told the news agency.
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