The mayor of Montreal plans an electric vehicle sharing program, which will put the city right up there among the leaders in electric transportation.
Montreal is not unfamiliar with the concept of car sharing, which provides people with a very convenient and easy access to vehicles, which are hassle free and available at pretty much any time. The city has quite a number of companies, which already run car sharing schemes, but unfortunately, at present, there is only a limited amount of electric vehicles involved.
The plan that Denis Coderre, mayor of the metropolitan, presented a few days ago involves an expansion of the currently existing car sharing programs, or more precisely, their use of electric vehicles. In fact, Coderre is looking into giving the city a car sharing program that has as many as 250 EVs by next spring and 1,000 by 2020.
Along with the boost of usage of electric vehicles, Montreal is also going to receive a boost in charging infrastructure. The mayor is looking into building a lot more charging stations, which are easily accessible, and can be used by both owners of EVs and users of the car sharing service. In addition to this, those with EVs, either shared, or owned, will also have easier access to parking spaces in the city, and receive universal parking permits.
The complete transformation of Montreal in terms of electric vehicle use is part of a bigger scheme, which aims to cut down the greenhouse gas emissions of the city by a minimum of 30% in the coming five years. As ambitious as this might sound, this new car sharing program could contribute greatly to reaching this goal, especially since the city gets most of its power from green hydro-power plants.
In the coming months, the city will call for interested parties, to discuss the feasibility and implementation of the idea. The mayor is also going to look for the best companies for building and maintaining the charging stations.
Image (c) AVEQ
