Paris to launch electric car-sharing system

Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced last week the creation of an electric car sharing system. Autolib’, as it is called, will allow its users to have access to a pool of 4000 electric cars in Paris and its immediate outskirts, and use them for short trips. They will be able to pick up a car from one out of 700 parking spaces and drop them off at any other one. Membership will cost about €200-250.

This initiative was born out of the success of the Vélib’, Paris’s bike-sharing system. Delanoë is riding the wave of environment awareness and is known for his original and ambitious municipal projects — he also launched Nuit Blanche and Paris-Plage — whose concepts have been reused by other cities around the world.

But the idea is being criticized by the Green party, whose officials say that promoting the use of cars to get around is not ideal, even if they’re electric.

Several cities have already implemented some sort of carpooling system. In Montreal, Canada, members of Communauto can book a vehicle anytime during the day and use it for several hours. They receive a bill at the end of the month. The company has teamed up with the local public transportation network to offers its users reduced membership rates. But these services usually rely on a pool of gas-runned cars and are less flexible than the proposed Autolib’ system.

Read more about Autolib’ in this Guardian article.