Paris to Launch Subscription Electric Car Sharing Service
From buildings to airports, Pairs is looking towards greening up. And now, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced last week that by the end of 2009, Parisians can expect to see about 4,000 electric cars throughout the city that will be available for rent through a sharing service called Autolib.
Similar to the city’s electric bike sharing service Vélib’, these 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. The subscription service would cost about $390 a month, with a 60 mile-per-day limit – pricy but considering the cost of owning, maintaining, parking, and filling up a car with fuel in a busy city, the price and mileage both seem reasonable.
On the to-do list for the plan is picking an EV model. Two models seem to be the most likely choices – BlueCar and Cleanova, both French. Whichever model they pick, it is likely that they’ll work with the maker and an infrastructure specialist to install the necessary charging stations to keep the EVs juiced up. This is important considering that the service will be available not only in the city, but also the surrounding suburbs where full charges are a little more necessary due to the longer distances between charging stations. Also, 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.
Via Earth2Tech, Autobloggreen, Gather
