Renault, together with Ferrovial, this March will launch a free-floating, all-electric car-sharing service called ZITY in Paris, France.
The fleet will consist of 500 Renault ZOE, which will be available for hire 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using a free mobile application. According to Renault, the trend in Paris is that 20% of the capital's inhabitants will use car-sharing.
Previously, ZITY was launched in 2017 also in Madrid, Spain, where the fleet was expanded to 650 ZOE.
"This launch in Paris is a new step in the partnership between Groupe Renault, a pioneer of electric vehicles in Europe, and Ferrovial, one of the world’s leading infrastructure operators and urban service providers, which began successfully in 2017 with ZITY, an electric car-sharing service that started in Madrid."
It will be interesting to see whether ZITY in Paris will be able to expand to the size of the former Autolib system, with a few thousand cars.
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Gallery: Renault ZOE in ZITY car sharing fleet in Paris, France
"ZITY offers flexibility close to that of owning a private vehicle. Using an app, users can view which Renault ZOE is closest to their position and reserve the car instantly. When they get to the car, it can be unlocked via the app. To end the rental, the vehicle must be parked in Paris, on any public sparking space above ground and locked. The operation takes a few seconds.
The 500 Renault ZOEs have 5 seats and are equipped with a reversing camera and parking sensors, GPS, touch-screen infotainment system and cruise control. Child seats are available in some of the vehicles and those equipped with them can be identified via the mobile application.
ZITY meets the flexibility and freedom required by users by offering:
- Competitive rates that are adapted to needs with no registration or subscription fees. ZITY offers different rates, including, per minute, a fixed time (4h, 8h, 24h) or time credit with "economy packs". Thanks to the "stand-by" option, ZITY also makes it possible to keep the vehicle when you need to park for a short time without incurring extra costs.
- The battery levels are guaranteed. The technology on board the Renault ZOE ZITY enables all the information on the dashboard, including the battery level, to be displayed in real time. If the battery falls below the minimum level required, the vehicle is no longer available for hire and is quickly taken in hand by the ZITY teams to recharge it.
- Vehicle availability and intelligent positioning. As well as offering great freedom of movement within and outside the area covered by the service (inner Paris area and Clichy), the high level of autonomy of the ZOE batteries means less frequent recharging and therefore more vehicles available on the streets.
- In addition, thanks to a highly competitive computer platform and an algorithm that constantly analyses vehicle use, ZITY can identify the areas where the car-sharing demand is highest and can intelligently reposition vehicles in the city after servicing, so that users can easily find a vehicle."