A fleet of little silver cars in Paris is showcasing France's gamble on electric vehicle technology in a project that backers say is even helping to narrow the capital's social divide.
Modeled on the Velib bike-sharing program, Autolib has won 70,000 clients since its launch in late 2011. Drivers pick up one of the electric cars at a recharging bay, make their journey and leave it at another for other Parisians to use.
Conservatives intially attacked Autolib as a vanity project of the Socialists who control the Paris city hall, but have toned down their criticism as the scheme's popularity has grown.
Visiting mayors from San Francisco and Seoul have test driven the French-built mini cars which are styled in Italy. But Greens fear the 1,800-strong fleet may be drawing Parisians away
from public transport rather than from their gas and diesel-powered cars, and have demanded an audit of the scheme.
Autolib's backers make some bold claims. The project, they say, is breaking down social and physical barriers between the two million inhabitants of affluent central Paris and the other
eight million who live in the "banlieues", the often neglected high-rise suburbs outside the "peripherique" ring road.
"There was a time when Parisians thought the banlieues were where they sent their rubbish and built council blocks or cemeteries," Paris transport councillor Julien Bargeton said.
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