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Electric car version of Boris Bikes coming to London

Motorists will soon be able to hire electric car versions of Boris Bikes, as French firm launches new car-sharing scheme.

A French firm has announced plans to launch a new car-sharing scheme in London. London motorists will soon be able to hire electric ‘Bluecars’ in similiar fashion to Boris Bikes. Motorists will be able to hire the electric cars for £2.50 for fifteen minutes, £5.00 for 30 minutes and £10.00 per hour.

Popular: Electric car charging points line the streets in Paris
Popular: Electric car charging points line the streets in Paris

The firm, Bolloré Group, aims to have 6,000 charging points in London by 2018 and hopes to repeat the success electric cars have had in Paris.

Bolloré Group was awarded the contract by Transport for London to improve the expand of amount of charging points in the UK. It aims to spend £60million a year but plans to break even within six years.

There are currently just 1,400 electric car charging points in the UK. The firm aims to double this amount by adding a further 1,500 by early next year. By 2018, it aims to double the figure again to 6,000.

“These are ambitious and exciting plans that will take Source London and electric car sharing in our city to the next level,” London mayor Boris Jonhson 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,” he added.

One of the main problems with driving an electric car is that there are too few charging points. Vincent Bolloré, president of Bolloré Group, commented: “The number of electric cars in the capital will only increase if the people of London can rely on a charging infrastructure which is in place across London and its Boroughs.”

Mr Bolloré added: “Electric car sharing has been tremendously popular in Paris and we believe it could be equally successful in London, offering people a convenient and low cost form of environmentally-friendly transport.”

Would you hire an electric Bluecar? Share your thoughts on the scheme by posting in the comments below.

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