Paris’ new electric car hire scheme opened to the public for the first time yesterday. The new Autolib scheme is a car club designed specifically for the hire of electric cars and although just 66 models are in service today; a full rollout of 5,000 cars is planned by 2013.
The new scheme is brought to the French capital by the a joint investment between the city’s council and billionaire industrialist Vincent Bolloré. It is not known how much the scheme cost, but according to The Independent, it is thought to be worth €250m (£215m).
The new club features specially-designed Bluecars produced by Italian design firm Pininfarina, better known for the producing sports cars. With a range of around 250 km and a recharge time of around 8 hours, the model seems well-suited to life in inner city Paris.
Motorists in the city will be able to hire one of the electric vehicles by booking via the phone or internet and picking the car up from one of 800 docking stations planned to appear across Paris and neighbouring suburbs. Users need pay an annual registration fee of €144 and can then pay as little as €4 per half hour rental.
Assistant Mayor of Paris, Annick Lepetit told journalists that the new scheme would signal the ‘end of the obsession with individual car-ownership’, by encouraging car sharing.
It is hoped that by 2013, the scheme will have taken 22,500 private cars off the streets of the capital.
