Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

LONDON

Paris car-sharing scheme Autolib’ set for London

Paris's groundbreaking electric car-sharing scheme looks set to be rolled out in London in the next 12 months, Vincent Bollore the French tycoon behind the capital's Autolib' project said on Wednesday.

Published: 13 March 2014 08:47 CET

Paris car-sharing scheme Autolib' set for London

Paris's Autolib' cars will soon be on the streets of London. Photo: Francisco Gonzalez/Flickr

French tycoon Vincent Bollore said on Wednesday he aims to introduce a car version of the "Boris Bikes" hire scheme in London, and quadruple the number of electric car-charging points in Britain.

IER, a subsidiary of the Bollore Group, has been selected by the Transport for London authority to take over the management of the existing Source London from June this year.

The network of 1,400 battery-charging points will be expanded to 6,000 by 2018, with IER investing £100 million (120 million euros, $166 million).

Furthermore, Bollore said he was aiming to launch an electric car hire project in the British capital.

SEE ALSO: After Autolib' and Velib' Paris is now set for Scootlib'

The scheme would be based on Autolib in Paris, which was launched in 2011 and currently has more than 45,000 active subscribers making between 9,000 and 13,000 car journeys each day.

"We'll have Blue Cars in London within the next 12 months," Bollore said.

The Autolib model has also been rolled out to the French cities of Lyon and Bordeaux and will soon go into operation in the US city of Indianapolis.

Bollore will eventually also offer a car-sharing scheme.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "We're going to see more charging points popping up across London, which will drive the take-up of these cleaner, greener machines and help to reduce air pollution too."

The popular short-term bike hire scheme in London was initially sponsored by Barclays bank, but soon acquired the nickname "Boris Bikes" after the mayor.

Paris's Autolib scheme has been considered a success but it has occasionally suffered from the same problems as the Velib' bike scheme, notably vandalism.

These dramatic pictures below show two blue cars in flames after being set alight by vandals in Paris.

What do you think, will Autolib' work in London?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Fuelled by diesel bans and Brexit, London black cabs get set for German streets

Black cabs in London. Image: DPA

The black cab is to London what the yellow cab is to New York City. Even for those who have never set foot in either metropolis, the taxis are an icon representing the city around the globe.

At a time when Britain appears to becoming more insular and isolated, LEVC (London Electric Vehicle Company) — the company responsible for the London black cab — have set their sights on Europe and have a focus on Germany.

Aside from the Brexit uncertainty — which the company says could cut their business by 20 to 30 percent – Germany’s recent diesel bans have created an opportunity for the newly-green manufacturer.

SEE ALSO: Germany plans to extend transition period for Brits in case of no-deal

They’ve already sold 200 in Germany and expect orders to continue in the coming years.

Taxi driver Jörg Röttjer with his London-style cab in Hanover in the 1960s. Image: DPA

Along with the Brexit uncertainty, Germany is an attractive market

Although the German taxi market is relatively well established — and there are of course no shortages of local car manufacturers — environmental concerns have made the hybrid black cabs a more attractive option in Deutschland.

With diesel bans coming into place in a number of German cities and emissions reduction targets still out of reach, the company expects demand to rise.

SEE ALSO: Government calls upon diesel car manufacturers to up their game in 2019

LEVC chief Jörg Hofmann told the Süddeutsche Zeitung “Germany is our main market (outside of the UK)”.

The black cabs won’t purely be limited to tax duties either. Rideshare companies like Hamburg’s Clevershuttle have incorporated the black cabs into their services, while Hofmann sees several different uses — such as delivery vans.

“At my home every day, two or three delivery vans with running diesel engines are just around the corner, because we buy everything on the Internet and it must be delivered,” he said.

With delivery vehicles potentially being heavily hit by the bans, many companies will need to convert.

A regeneration

Despite the iconic nature of the black cabs and their ubiquity on London streets, a few years back, their future was far from certain. The diesel-powered cabs had been identified by the British government as a cause of pollution, particularly in London.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

Authorities changed the rules in January 2019 so that all new cabs hitting London streets would be electric-powered. As a result, the company shifted to a ‘hybrid’ model – running off a battery which is charged by petrol once it runs low.

Url copied to clipboard!