The newest electric vehicle contesting the area of the majestic Champs-Elysées in Paris has enough space for two passengers, has a more sensitive speed of only forty-five kilometers consisting of one hour (28 mph) and can be legally driven through a 14-year-old vehicle.-old.
When it launched this month, the eccentric Citroen Ami will be the latest tactic in an increasingly intense war between 4 of Europe’s largest car manufacturers for dominance of the French capital.The prize is not a sale, but a shared payment of a few cents according to the minute.
Concerns about traffic jams and air pollutants have led car owners to adopt tough policies and forced brands to replace their strategy.Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo was re-elected in June on an environmental platform that includes more motorcycle lanes and fewer polluting vehicles.This makes car sharing one of the few tactics of car brands to attract urban consumers to the French economic and cultural center.
“Vehicle sharing will be a genuine business for automakers, albeit on a small scale,” said Jean-Louis Sempe, Paris analyst at Invest Securities SA.”They will use facilities as showrooms and create a type of visitor.”
Paris, a pioneer in the emerging sector, started with a city-backed service called Autolib in 2011.It had a fleet of about 2,500 electric cars and more than 150,000 subscribers, but the partnership ended in bitterness two years ago when the city canceled the contract.with the bolloré SA operator following a monetary dispute.
Today, three different ones are born from the ashes, all supported by car manufacturers: Citroen PSA Group’s Free2Move, Zity from French rival Renault SA and BMW AG and Mercedes Benz Daimler AG ShareNow joint venture.industry with its fleet of electric cars made of crude metal, today’s operators see it as an advertising opportunity.
Free2Move “is a kind of toy from an automobile manufacturer.It’s a genuine logo and a mobility asset,” Brigitte Courtehoux, head of service, said in an interview.”We have no right to lose money.”
THE PSA service aims at profitability until early next year, even with the possibility that coronavirus outbreaks will force city dwellers to stay home as they did this year. At a sign of its ambitions, the company gives the unit more autonomy and over group exchange, leasing operations and long-term parking on a global scale.
Free2Move ranks second in Paris with nearly 20,000 customers, less than a share of BMW’s 55,000 Daimler and ShareNow.Renault’s Zity – also backed through the Spanish corporate structure Ferrovial SA – has 15,000.
Services are willing to attract more consumers.Zity and Free2Move have recently expanded their operating spaces to Boulogne-Billancourt, a densely populated municipality southwest of the capital where Renault and other giant corporations are located.
The planned addition of one hundred Citroen Amis to the Free2Move fleet, as well as the Peugeot e-208 compact electric, underlines the detail of service ostentation, giving new cars a faster presence on the street than storing them in a showroom.essential for electric cars, which have struggled to be widely accepted due to load and scope considerations.
The Citroen Ami is even more atypical.The two-seater square, larger than wide, is classified as a quadtriccycle and can be driven by young people up to 14 years old. For the Paris service, Free2Move will set the minimum age to 16 when the rental vehicle is deployed in August..
The vehicle has a look, with the same front and rear panels, so it is difficult to know at first glance whether it goes or not.As a component of its symmetrical design, the driver’s appearance has a suicide door articulated at the rear, while the passenger’s appearance is classic.
The Ami is “a 100 percent electric mobility device totally disruptive to the city center,” said Carlos Tavares, PSA’s executive leader, after reporting an unexpected benefit in the first half despite pandemic disruptions.
Paris only allows battery-powered cars in the city’s car-sharing operations, confronting the Ami, named after the still-successful Friend 6 of the 1960s, as opposed to ShareNow’s Daimler’s Smart and Zity’s popular Renault Zoe.
Mobility is one of the top priorities for Mayor Hidalgo.Last month, the city reduced the number of electric scooter businesses that will work to three, a measure designed to end the chaotic confrontation that ensued after the arrival of the Array.
The next issue is parking. The city will hold a convention later this year to talk about dividing the limited street area for personal and shared vehicles, a spokeswoman said.
The French capital recently charges carpooling companies parking, unlike Madrid and Washington, DC, eliminating fees is essential to make Free2Move’s Courtehoux viable, according to Courtehoux.
“We need the city to help us,” he said.
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