Not content with successfully introducing a bicycle hire scheme for Parisians to travel around town in an environmentally friendly manner, now Paris is offering similar opportunities for electric car drivers.
Known as the Autolib scheme, and scheduled to be introduced next autumn, 3,000 battery powered cars will be stationed at 1,000 self-service hire points across the city with authorities selecting the four-seat Bluecar from French company Bollore for the project.
The Bluecar is designed by Bollore’s Italian partners Pininfarina and is powered by a lithium-metal polymer battery that allows it to travel around 155miles between charges – charges themselves take around four hours. The vehicle can reach a maximum speed of 80mph and can accelerate from 0-60mph in 6.3seconds.
It is designed for the short journeys around town undertaken by the 58 per cent of Parisians that do not own a car and the 16 per cent who own a car but use it less than once a month.
To qualify to drive one of the vehicles, motorists will need a full driving licence and will have to subscribe for €12 a month. After that, they pay €5 for the first half hour and €6 for each subsequent 30minute slot. It is hoped that the scheme will attract between 160,000 and 200,000 subscribers as it bids to break even. Bollore is said to have invested around €60million in the project which is expected to cost more than €110million in total.
