The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, re-elected on 25th March, plans to invest more funds both in public transport and in a self-service electric and/or hybrid-electric car system called ¡®autolib¡¯. Starting with about 2,000 cars and 300 free recharging stations, the system would aim to reduce congestion and urban emissions.

 

The proposed service, modelled on a car sharing programme in Lyon started up at the beginning of this year, is expected to cost subscribers around €250 per month. The Norwegian electric city car manufacturer is reportedly preparing a bid to supply vehicles for the project, according to the www.wikio.fr website.

 

The Lyon scheme has a fleet of just 24 vehicles, which are used an average of twice a day, but need to be booked eight days in advance for weekend use, and were fully booked well ahead for the Easter weekend. Paris already has an established subscription bicycle-sharing scheme, reportedly used by about 10% of the French capital¡¯s population.

 

- The Danish power generator Dong Energy AS is expected to announce a partnership with the Californian start-up Project Better Place to build a Danish network to recharge electric cars, the Wall Street Journal has reported. This would be Project Better Place¡¯s second national scheme planned, the other having been announced recently for Israel, in conjunction with the Israeli government and Renault/Nissan.

From: auto industry.uk/news