OREANDA-NEWS. Toyota Motor Corp. announced plans to begin a three-year car-sharing trial using compact electric vehicles in the French city of Grenoble in late 2014.

The program, a joint effort with Electricite de France and others, will use electric cars to complement the existing public transportation system. It will help reduce global warming gas emissions at the same time.

Roughly 70 compact Toyota EVs will be used by people on the final legs of their trips, after traveling to railway stations and bus stops close to their final destinations. The Japanese automaker and other trial participants hope to find out what will be needed to improve car-sharing services and how successful such sharing will be in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The pilot program will use an EV model that will be developed based on an ultracompact prototype that Toyota will unveil at the Geneva International Motor Show, as well as the Coms compact EV, which the automaker has been selling in Japan.

Toyota will also provide a reservation system that will enable people to book an EV via a smartphone.

Electricite de France will handle the installation and operation of charging stations. Cite lib, a French car-sharing service company, will also take part in the trial.