Rio to Launch Electric Carsharing Service

Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro plans to launch an electric carsharing service with input from Chinese automaker BYD.

BYD is one of five firms that together make up PPP Radar, the consortium that has won the bid to develop the program, according to O Estado de Sao Paulo daily.

BYD — together with DirijaJa, IDOM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Albino Advogados Associados — has six months to present their project.

"The city of Rio de Janeiro should have a fleet of electric vehicles as of next year ... for carsharing," the daily said, adding that the program will offer some 300 cars initially.

BYD, which unveiled a battery-powered coach in January, has other projects underway in Brazil. BYD plans to invest $400 million in Brazil by 2018.