Renault Twizy Provides Eco-Friendly Car Sharing Service

An eco-friendly car-sharing service, Twizy Way by Renault, is a complementary solution to public transport and an easy way to get around town.

Starting 21 June, 2012, Renault will offer some 50 testers the chance to try out this unprecedented service. The fleet of 50 Renault Twizys will be distributed over a pilot area. There are no fixed stations: users will take the vehicles wherever they find them and leave them in any car park within the test area.

The service is provided in partnership with the urban community of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

The new service provides users complete freedom enabling them to take the closest Twizy to their home, use it for as long as they need and park it on any car park located within the test area. They can instantly find out where the nearest available Renault Twizy is parked in real-time using a smartphone application, the web.

Users can either reserve their desired Twizy using the web, hotline or smartphone or book it by scanning the QR code on the vehicle. Printed on a label, the QR Code is a 2 dimensions bar code which may be deciphered from a mobile phone equipped with a camera. It sends back towards a dedicated Web application.

The Renault Twizy is fully electric with easy handling options and minimum dimensions. The road behavior of Renault Twizy is also very reassuring with its four wheels equipped with disk brakes.

"With this practical test, Renault wishes to confirm that Twizy is particularly well-suited to car-sharing schemes and verify the logistics required to offer this self-service solution", stated Thierry Viadieu, Director of Renault's New Mobility Programme.

However, Renault is not the only company to offer such form of urban car sharing services. Similar services are provided by UK's Zipcar or CityCarClub and France's Autolib. However, unlike the latter, Renault's car-sharing scheme does not require users to return the vehicles back to the docking areas.

Once the testing period is successfully completed, Renault will officially launch the service for the public in September, 2012.