Paris Autolib innovative electric car service unveiled

Breff driving the Autolib electric car in Paris. - YouTube

Autolib' electric car service will be launched in Paris next Monday. In Paris and Ile de France cities, users will be able to sign up for daily, weekly or annual memberships ranging from 10 euros to 144 euros, with users paying according to the length of time the car is used.

Paris, in its latest bid to be an innovator of the City of Tomorrow, is launching an electric car-sharing program to cut air and noise pollution on the city's medieval cobblestone streets and beyond. 250 vehicles hit the road on Monday, 2,000 are expected by next summer and 3,000 are planned within the next two years. More info

For the last six months, crews with jackhammers have been outfitting sidewalks with some of the 1,200 charging stations and marking off parking spaces that will be reserved exclusively for Autolib' users. Autolib will allow any Parisian or visitor to easily rent an electric car for few hours and drop it off at any of the locations citywide.

Bottomline:
Paris is leading by example, and walking the walk of going green. Paris transformed the biking habits of residents by launching the wildly successful Velib bicycle sharing program back in 2007. Today, the city and its suburbs have 1,800 docking stations holding more than 20,000 bikes. If Autolib' electric car program sees the same level of success, there will be many more cities worldwide who will follow Paris' innovative lead.