On the heels of its successful bike-sharing program, Paris has announced a similar plan for electric cars. Under the project, known as Autolib’, 4,000 vehicles will be stationed in 700 lots in downtown Paris and its suburbs. Users will be able to rent and return vehicles at any of the lots, paying for just a few minutes of driving and avoiding the hassle of parking. Part of the mayor’s efforts to reduce pollution and congestion, the program will launch in late 2009 or early 2010, though many specifics, including car cost and monitoring, have yet to be announced. The program is intended to help deter prospective car owners from purchasing a polluting vehicle, said the deputy mayor in charge of transportation, as well as helping with Paris’s parking problems. But some critics, including the city’s Green Party, say the new project might only serve to increase traffic and car dependence in the already congested French capital.
Paris Plans New Program for Public Sharing of Electric Cars
More From E360
-
Climate
How Climate Risks Are Putting Home Insurance Out of Reach
-
INTERVIEW
Inside the Plastics Industry Playbook: Delay, Deny, and Distract
-
Biodiversity
Freeing Captive Bears from Armenia’s Backyards and Basements
-
Food & Agriculture
In Indonesia’s Rainforest, a Mega-Farm Project Is Plowing Ahead
-
FILM CONTEST WINNER
In the Yucatan, the High Cost of a Boom in Factory Hog Farms
-
INTERVIEW
In the Transition to Renewable Energy, China Is at a Crossroads
-
E360 Film Contest
In India, a Young Poacher Evolves into a Committed Conservationist
-
E360 Film Contest
The Amazon Rainforest Approaches a Point of No Return
-
Biodiversity
Shrinking Cod: How Humans Are Impacting the Evolution of Species
-
Cities
‘Sponge City’: Copenhagen Adapts to a Wetter Future
-
INTERVIEW
On Controlling Fire, New Lessons from a Deep Indigenous Past
-
Solutions
Paying the People: Liberia’s Novel Plan to Save Its Forests