Visitors to Paris will soon be able to pick-up and drop-off up to 4000 electric cars as the City of Lights follows on from the success of its electric bicycle scheme, Businessweek has reported.

The Velib Curbside Rental scheme was launched in 2007 and the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, plans to roll-out a similar operation for electric cars by the end of 2010. The initiative, dubbed Autolib (“automobile” and “liberte”) will see 2000 cars deployed at various stands around the city, with an additional 2000 available at surrounding locations.

Advocates say the system would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 22,000 tons a year while improving traffic congestion as fewer Paris residents would need to own cars. It would be the first major city to offer such a service. “This could revolutionize transport,” Mayor Delanoë quoted to Radio Station RMC when the scheme was first proposed in June 2008.

Whilst the scheme requires some fine-tuning, including the €14m required in funding, the onus is now on the bidding war which includes Avis, Daimler, Renault, French Railways and Citroen amongst  others. Daimler already has an experimental fleet of 100 cars in London, and Berlin is anticipating a similar scheme by the end of this year. Nissan has also joined the race, announcing its first fully electric model for 2010, and Renault a similar design by 2011.

Estimated costs to the consumer would be around €20 per month in membership, with the cars themselves charging at around €8-10 per hour.