The city of Paris will adopt a new way of transport until the end of 2009. Mayor Bertrand Delanoi« announced last week that the Parisians will have around 4000 public electric cars to travel with in Paris and in the near suburbs.
The service is called Autolib, and it is subscription-based, the user pays around $390/month and the EVs will be available for pick-up and delivery at 700 spots around the city. Users can hop online to specify where they’ll return the car, and they’ll be guaranteed a parking spot in that location. Still, there’s a 60 miles (96km) limit for traveling daily. The price is a little bit spicy, but there are important maintenance operations that have to be done to keep the cars going smooth, so it is somewhat justified.
The French choose french cars. They have two options:
either the Bollore BlueCar:
Or the Cleanova, some kind of electric Renault Kangoo (they’re very popular in France):
Whichever model they’ll choose, it is they will surely work with the automaker for deciding upon an infrastructure of necessary charging stations to keep the EVs charged at all times. This is important considering that the service will also be available in the surrounding suburbs where full charges are a little more necessary due to the longer distances between charging stations. Having the EV service in the suburbs helps boost green travel, since it will assist in expanding the area in which the bike rental services can operate.
This is a necessary project for Paris and for other big cities around the world. Equipped with a GPS system and a thorough access control, they can keep them clean and functional the protect them against theft. This kind of car sharing service will educate the people to preserve what’s also others’ and to act in everybody’s interest, while saving gas and the ozone layer. Added to the project of battery exchange network for electric car, agreed by several european countries, this is also a great idea to keep our eyes on.
via ecogeek
Switzerland uses car-sharing for a while now and it quickly became the most efficient way of driving for individuals and professionnals who do not exceed 10.000 km/year. Biking throughout Switzerland is easy since it’s free to take your bike with you in trains. But for some reasons, build an eco-friendly house is still very expensive compare to a traditionnal one. Very few incentives from the state.
Paris has a system of public bicycles people can use for a low fee. The system is great, but the losses (even thefts) and damages are very important. Public cars probably won’t live long due to people’s lack of consideration and respect. However the idea is fantastic and could definitely work well in countries where people have a bit more respect (Japan, i.e.).
Good luck anyway!