Electric Car Sharing

In a controversial move, the city of Indianapolis agrees to provide $6 million to fund charging stations for electric-car car sharing service BlueIndy.

Autolib, the Parisian electric car sharing service, is not having the kind of start it had hoped for. Though the program officially kicked off in October, the rubber really hit the road in December and, since that time, 30 to 40 of the 250 Bolloré-built Bluecars in the fleet have had to be taken out of service. The problem stems from a combination of vandalism – something the city's bicycle-sharing program also experiences a lot of – and ordinary breakdowns of one sort or anot

Since London has already copied Paris' Velib public bicycle rental service, it seems fitting that England's capital city is considering an electric vehicle-sharing scheme that mimics Paris' recently launched Autolib. For full details on Autolib, click Eric Loveday

In March, a company by the name of Zen Car will launch an electric vehicle car sharing scheme in the city of Brussels, Belgium. Zen Car says that 29 plug-ins will hit the streets and fifteen charging stations will pop up throughout the city to support the electric fleet. Membership costs are pegged at 40 euros ($55 U.S. at the current exchange rate), plus 6 euros ($8 U.S) a month and 7 euros ($10 U.S.) per hour spent behind the wheel.

Car sharing programs have steadily increased in popularity within the past few years and will likely see continued growth as we move forward. Paris hopes to cash in on some of the action by offering up the world's largest electric car share fleet. Paris' grand plan is an optimistic one, but it should prove to be well within reach.

Will trains and cars become the voyaging version of peanut butter and chocolate? Perhaps. Better Place is partnering with DSB, Denmark's largest rail service provider, to offer

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