Project EVIE Blog

Freedom and cars, together at last.

The French government is going one step further towards the abolition of private property, putting forth a plan that will allow Parisians to drive a zero-emissions electric car whenever they want, without ever having to buy one.

Yep, the city of Paris wants to do to electric cars what they did to bicycles in their rent-a-bike Vélib’ system. And, applying the same logic from one to the other, the program will be called Autolib’ – a clever portmanteau of liberté and automobile (just as Vélib is a contraction of liberté and vélo).

There have long been rumors of such an initiative, yet it became official last summer when an intergovernmental council was formed for Greater Paris to oversee the scheme’s implementation. (While the creation of intergovernmental councils in France is always a sure mark of a plan’s permanence, it also paradoxically signifies a plan’s delay of action – before the intergovernmental council was created, the scheduled launch date for Autolib’ was mid-2010, now it’s September 2011 and counting).

Once in operation, drivers will be able to pick up either a two-seat or a four-seat 100% electric car – without reservation – by merely swiping their credit card into a reader. Rates will likely be around $6-$9 per half-hour, and users can drop off their car at any rental location. Unlike the Vélib’ system however, which anybody can walk up to and use, those wishing to mosy around in an Autolib’ will need to register in advance with a valid driver’s license, and sign up for a monthly subscription fee between $22 and $29. Yep – it’s not quite as liberté as you might expect form the French.

The city’s plan calls for up to 700 Autolib’ stands to be built within Paris’ periphery – 500 curbside stations, and 200 in parking lots – and another 700 to be built in the city’s surrounding suburbs – making a total of around 4,000 all-electric Autolib’s in circulation.

An artist's rendering

There’s no news yet as to which electric car will staff the Autolib’ fleet. Daimler, Renault, and Peugot Citroen have all expressed interest in the project, yet there’s also the possibility that a new car will be specially-designed for the program. Obviously, there are certain major hurdles any car that’s used will have to overcome – vandalism, theft, long recharging times, durability among them.

While Paris’ Vélib’ system has been a massive success, it has also been a huge headache for JCDecaux – its parent company – to maintain, with thousands of bikes going missing, or being returned broken beyond repair ever year.

Ouch.

Of course it hasn’t helped matters that French privacy law dictates that a merchant cannot keep a customer’s credit card and personal information once a transaction is finished, making offenders rather hard to book.

Proponents of the Autolib’ initiative, Paris’ mayor Bertrand Delanoë perhaps the strongest among them, it being one of his campaign pledges, argue that the scheme will not only improve traffic congestion – as fewer people will own cars – but will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 22,000 tons a year. “It will revolutionize transport,” said Delanoë, revealing both his impassioned committment to Autolib’, as well as his natural French propensity for things revolutionary.

Yet in a move that almost seems uncanny, many French environmentalists – close political allies of Delanoë among them – are critical of Autolib’s green credentials. Autolib’, they argue, will increase traffic congestion, and might encourage people to go for drives “on a whim” that would otherwise not. “Encouraging the public to use any type of car instead of taking bikes or public transportation is a mistake,” according to Denis Baupin, a prominent Green Party leader, who prefers traditional rental schemes in which cars must be reserved ahead of time and returned to the same location.

Only time will tell whether the French can realize this ambitious feat of engineering, and if Autolib’ will end up like its kindred Vélib – with its kinks, but overall successful and enjoyed by many – or more like those automated rent-a-toilets you see on street corners – seemed like a good idea at the time…

First there was Vélib’, now Autolib’, and next… Sarkozy: “I’m going to launch PrimeMinister-lib’ – I can change mine whenever I want!”