Toyota EVs to plug into ‘smart city’ public transport scheme in France

Future mobility, smart cities and other innovations designed to make cities and urban transport more pleasant and manageable in years to come are key conversation topics for industry these days. Concrete examples, however, are still few and far between. However, in October this year, that’s just what will become a reality in Grenoble, France and the outlying area, making the French Alps city a pioneer in future mobility.

Toyota is contributing 70 of its i-ROAD (two-seater, three wheels with Active Lean technology) and COMS ((single-seater, four wheels, a small rear storage compartment) ultra-compact personal mobility electric vehicles (EVs) to a three-year integrated EV car sharing and public transport test project that is being launched in Grenoble. It will be the i-ROAD’s first official on-road trial in Europe. The compact i-ROAD combines the exceptional handling of a motorcycle or a scooter with the comfort and stability of a car. Four i-ROADs occupy the footprint of a single car.

In October, the Toyota EVs and around 30 charging stations developed and managed by EDF’s subsidiary Sodetrel, will be open for service for a period of three years thanks to a unique partnership between the City and the Metropolitan Area of Grenoble, French energy company EDF, Toyota and Citélib, a local car-sharing operator.

Toyota is also developing a data management system that will enable the visualisation and reservation of the vehicles. The system will integrate with Grenoble’s existing transport IT system to offer route planning with different modes of transport from a smartphone.  Citélib by Ha:mo is Toyota’s second ‘Ha:mo’ (short for Harmonious Mobility) project and the first outside Japan. “This concept fits within our overall future mobility vision which is based on four pillars: safety, comfort, ease of use and ecology,” commented Michel Gardel, VP, Toyota Motor Europe.  “Ha:mo was designed to reduce the stress caused by traffic jams, peak traffic hours, and searching for a parking space. It also allows a reduction in emissions that cause poor air quality in city centres,” he added.

Connected to the public transport system’s IT infrastructure, this new car-sharing scheme will complement Citélib, the current car-sharing service of Grenoble, by allowing users to pick up one of the small EVs at one location and drop it off at another. The project also aims to promote interconnectivity of public transport methods (trams, buses, trains) and a new type of personal mobility using small vehicles that don’t take up as much space as a normal car. The main idea is to allow commuters to drive the first or last kilometres of their journey for increased flexibility and time-saving, thus contributing to reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality in city centres.

By bringing together their respective competencies, the project partners are offering Grenoble an innovative service which will allow a real-life, thorough evaluation of the potential of this new form of mobility. “The Grenoble-Alpes Métropole community has always been open to innovation,” explains Christophe Ferrari, president of the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole. “In terms of scale, it’s perfectly suited to this kind of test, and in Grenoble, we have a tradition of daring to do things. The partnership itself, between us, Toyota, EDF and Citélib, a local car-sharing operator, is in and of itself also an innovation in France,” he added.  “It’s a great opportunity for our community to test, for three years and exclusively in Europe, a new mode of mobility that’s not only innovative but also economic and ecological It’s an experimentation that is bound to be followed by others for the benefit of our citizens.”

The scale of this integrated and complex project means it’s impossible to realise alone: partnerships and collaboration are key to its success – between the project partners of course, but also with the local communities.

Why Grenoble?

Grenoble has long been an innovative city. Its famous ‘Presqu’île’ science park is home to prestigious institutions and companies, such as the CEA and ST Microelectronics. Its slogan is: ‘Where we imagine the city of tomorrow’. Its university has more than 60,000 students on one of the most modern campuses in France. In 1987, Grenoble was the second French city after Nantes to re-introduce electric trams. In 2013, 78 million people used the local public transport network. Today, the fifth line of the tram network is beginning operation. Other ecological modes of transport have also an important place in the city’s transport system, such as 5,000 ‘Metrovélo’ bicycles and more than 320km of bicycle lanes.

Photograph: Toyota Evs ready for the ‘smart city’ public transport scheme.