Nice on the front line in war against traffic pollution

From left to right, Benoit Kandel, First deputy mayor, Christian Estrosi, mayor and Veronique Paquis, deputy mayor responsible for Research, Ecology and Sustainable Development, in front of a prototype of an electric car

The project was launched on Friday by Christian Estrosi, Nice’s mayor and France’s Minister for Industry, and is part of a larger national plan to cut greenhouse gases called Grenelle 1, instigated by the President Nicolas Sarkozy over a year ago.

The idea is simple: Following the example of the Velo Bleu- the city’s cheap bicycle scheme- 200 electrical and eco-friendly cars will be available next year from 70 special parking spaces.

At last week’s press conference at Parc Phoenix, Christian Estrosi presented the vehicles that could become the future stars of this Auto-Partage system. In array of glimmering colours these small cars, closely resembling a Smart car in design, can manage around 100 kilometers before their batteries needs charging. The price of the recharge is also very inexpensive: about one euro per 100 kilometers.

However, according to Sebastien Parant of Newteon, the Monegasque distributor of electrical cars, this system is not without its problem. In the majority of French gas stations, there are no plugs available for drivers to get power. ‘When you do find one,” Parant continued, “it is not necessarily certain that you can charge your battery because each brand has its own method.” 

In addition to this problem, during the first, experimental, stage of the Auto-Partage the use of the cars will also be quite expensive. Each user will have to pay a monthly 15 euro registration fee and then 10 euros on top of this every time they use a car. A customer will book the car online or over the phone, go to the designated location, unplug the car and open it with his phone. 

The aim is to make these public cars a habit of convenience, thus reducing urban pollution and relieving the problem of parking a car in the city centre. 

‘We do not launch this initiative in order to appear cutting-edge or trendy,’ claims Estrosi. ‘We have already developed some environmental initiatives in the city and won some significant battles against greenhouse gas emissions. It is now a real war, to which I am strongly committed to fighting,’ he concluded.

The cost of this particular military operation stands at 3.5 million euro, 60 per cent of which will be refunded by the French Government.

On the 13th of April, Estrosi and Jean-Louis Borloo, the Minister for Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development, will go on to announce the names of other French cities that will develop the same project. Even Paris is set to follow Nice on this one, introducing the Auto-Partage scheme in September 2011. 'I will invite Bertrand Delanoe [Mayor of Paris] to show him how it works,’ joked Estrosi at the press conference, clearly unable to hide his pride that Nice is to be the national leader in public eco transport systems.

TP