Paris revs up for electric car rentals

Four years after transforming the city’s two-wheeled transport habits with an easy-to-rent bicycle system, Paris officials hope to achieve similar results for drivers.
Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and regional officials yesterday were to launch “Autolib,” an electric car rental service they hope will yield big benefits for the city’s often-clogged streets.
“It will mean fewer parked cars, less traffic and less pollution,” Delanoe said in an interview in yesterday’s Parisien newspaper.
Autolib is the socialist mayor’s flagship project and will be launched in 46 towns including Paris.
“Autolib has not been created for a specific customer,” Delanoe said. “It’s objective is to make the whole city more free and accessible for all users.”
Residents and tourists were quick to embrace Paris’s bicycle-rental system, known as Velib, launched in 2007.
The city and its suburbs are now dotted with around 1,800 docking stations holding more than 20,000 of the grey utilitarian bikes.
The launch follows a successful October trial of 250 Bluecar electric cars, manufactured by French group Bollore.
Under the system, users will be able to rent a car at one location and drop it off at another. New cars will be added each month, with officials hoping to have 3,000 cars and 1,200 stations on the road by May.
Bollore says a full charge will provide a range of up to 250 kilometres in town.
Contracts start at 12 euros per month, plus five euros per half hour of use.