Paris to double eco-bonus for purchasing hybrid and electric taxis

The proposed eco-bonus is €4000 for Hybrid vehicles and €7000 for fully electric vehicles.

Between 2008 and 2010, Paris had put in place a similar financial incentive for the purchase of less polluting vehicles, i.e. simple hybrids. 431 taxi drivers out of total 17,500 took advantage of the bonus and bought a new vehicle.

Today, there are 1,200 hybrid taxis circulating in paris, but the number of plug-in hybrids or fully electric taxis is almost zero.

"The goal of the initiative" said Mr Julien Bargeton, in charge for transport at the Mayor's Office "is to give incentives for the use of cleaner vehicles. But we also want to support the electric vehicles industry chain."

According to a professional in the sector "the deployment of the recharging infrastructure is lagging behind in the French capital city especially with regard to charging points at taxi stall stations."

Paris is deploying Autolib stations. Taxis can already use charging points at 250 stations publicly available.