Pinned by the Eiffel Tower, threaded by the Seine and punctuated by grand gardens that are multiplying as part of the city’s bid to become one of Europe’s greenest, Paris is among the world’s most impressive destinations. And with all eyes on the French capital this summer for the Olympics, there’s never been a better time to visit
1 STREET LIFE
With its sights set on banning fossil fuel cars by 2030, Paris is embracing electric vehicles — and you can take one for a spin around the capital’s landmarks. Words: Georgia Stephens
Vintage cars, with vintage engines, typically have a lot to say: they grumble around corners, groan up hills and continue to mutter to themselves even when they’ve come to a stop. But this one isn’t like the others. The white-andblue Renault 4L, which rolled off the factory floor in 1955, should be as talkative as the rest of her kind. Yet, all I can hear as we stop at a red light between the honey-coloured apartments of the 8th arrondissement are wafts of French radio, blowing in through the sunroof on the breeze.
From the back seat, it’s hard to tell exactly where it’s coming from — beyond one of the cast iron balconies on either side, perhaps, or the next car over, where a blonde woman is cradling a miniature poodle on her lap.
The light turns green, and the little Renault sparks into life. The engine sounds like a spaceship powering up — there’s an electrical whirring that grows increasingly high pitched. And then we’re away, speeding over the cobbles.
“She’s surprisingly powerful,” driver Renaud Garza calls back with a chuckle from beneath his navy chauffeur’s cap. “With the battery, I can drive at around 75mph.”
Increasingly, the streets of Paris are going electric. Like our Renault 4L, battery-powered cars have become a more popular sight over the last decade — together with a burgeoning herd of e-buses, bikes and even unicycles.
It’s all part of the city’s plans to outlaw all but electric vehicles by 2030 in preparation for becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Officials have run incentives to boost the use of e-vehicles over recent years, such as the €100 (£85) per month leasing scheme that had to be phased out early due to the vigorous uptake. Infrastructure is being upgraded, too, with charging points appearing around Paris at increasingly regular intervals and a trial electrified motorway, which can charge cars as they drive, under construction nearby.
Renaud typically drives a fleet of petrol Citroën 2CVs between Paris’s blockbuster sights for his tour company 4 Roues Sous 1 Parapluie. But over
