Renault’s car-sharing programme in Paris to kick off this month
The announced EV car-sharing programme by Renault in cooperation with ADA will launch in Paris very soon. The programme will be named “Moov’in.Paris by Renault”, and will launch in October with a fleet of 100 Zoe and 20 Twizy. The corresponding app is already available.
Renault has announced that the free-floating service area will extend to all of Paris, as well as the nearby community of Clichy. In the last announcement in July, the company had stated that the service area would only extend to the 11th and 12th arrondissement in Paris and Clichy, which was now upgraded to the entire city area. The amount of vehicles in the starting fleet has remained comparatively small, as Renault plans to optimize their fleet before successively expanding it.
By the end of next year, Renault plans to have a 2,000 vehicle strong EV fleet on the roads in the greater Paris area. Their timing could not be better: The EV car-sharing programme by Bolloré had been so highly in debt, that the city decided to pull the plug over the summer. Renault is the first of several service providers who will fill the gap.
The free-floating sharing principle is based around user-friendliness, and does not require the drivers to take steps to ensure the charging of the vehicle or parking fees. Renault’s communication did not include what drivers would or would not be able to do in situations where parking is scarce, leaving the question open exactly how much the service team on the road will have to take care of their vehicles.
Between Renault and ADA the cooperation is very clearly split: Renault is providing the vehicles, and will maintain and repair the vehicles if needed. ADA, who is a subsidiary of the Rousselet Group, which owns more than 100 rental car agencies in the French capital region, will provide the app, as well as taking care of charging, cleaning and positioning of the vehicles. Both companies have also stated intentions to develop new mobility services, which will be offered via their single app.
At the same time, the fight between the Bolloré Group and the Syndicat Autolib‘ Vélib‘ Métropole (SAVM) has heated up. As SAVM is partially responsible for the sudden demise of Bolloré, as they refused to cover large parts of the deficit picked up by the car-sharing programme over the years. SAVM represents 103 communities in the greater Paris area, including the capital itself. Bolloré was unimpressed and has handed over a bill of 235 million euros, which they claim covers the deficits from 2011 until now, as well as costs that arose due to the “premature” end of the service.
Community representatives have responded with a statement that they intend to fight every single cost point on the bill, as the calculation method has not been sufficiently specified and the corresponding invoices have not been presented. While the charging stations for the service are all that is left in Paris, it seems the spirit of the Bolloré car-sharing service will continue in a legal battle.
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