Paris will on Sunday launch an ambitious electrically powered car-share service that it hopes will not only improve the quality of life in the City of Lights but also herald a revolution in sustainable urban transport.
But the “Autolib” venture also constitutes a risky gamble both for Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist mayor of Paris, and for Vincent Bolloré, France’s best-known corporate raider and buccaneering entrepreneur, who is supplying the electric cars and operating the new service.
In the volatile French pre-electoral political climate, Mr Delanoë hopes to repeat with the electric car project the huge popular and political – albeit costly – success of the Vélib bicycle-sharing scheme, which he launched four years ago.
The city of Paris, and its neighbouring suburban communes, have together invested more than €200m to construct the necessary infrastructure, from parking spaces to battery recharging stations.
Organisers hope the project will eventually reduce the numbers of privately owned cars in the city’s crowded boulevards, while also cutting pollution.
