Paris Launches VULe Partagés — Pilot Program Offering Electric Van-Sharing To Small Businesses

As part of a general effort to reduce the city’s ubiquitous and growing air pollution, the city of Paris (France) has launched a new electric van-share pilot program to small businesses, craftspeople, and traders, according to recent reports.

The new pilot program — dubbed VULe Partagés — will reportedly last one year, and will presumably be extended if everything goes well. The electric van-share fleet consists of 10 vehicles, including: 4 Peugeot Partner EVs, 4 Citroën Berlingo EVs, and 2 Renault Kangoo ZEs.

The electric vans will be based at 5 charging stations in the Bourse and Temple arrondissements (2 central Paris districts).

Autoblog provides more: “Each van comes with a card that provides free access to the Rungis International Market on the outskirts of Paris. This enormous wholesale food market is the starting point for many of the deliveries to Parisian cafés and restaurants. The inclusion of a Rungis card is a good indication of how the VULe Partagés vehicles will be used. In a city where food helps to define its culture, cutting emissions in the supply chain is an important step both symbolically and practically (and, to that end, Rungis began providing Renault Zoe EVs on its campus in 2014). The single refrigerated EV in the VULe Partagés fleet is likely to be in high demand.”

The program will reportedly be expanded to other parts of Paris after the 1-year pilot is completed, based on how successful it’s determined to be.

All images via PSA