附原文：All charged up for sharing

FIFTEEN years ago Vincent Bolloré， a French industrialist， decided to get into the business of electricity storage. He started a project to produce rechargeable batteries in two small rooms of his family mansion in Brittany. “I asked him， ‘what are you doing？’ and I told him to stop， that it wouldn’t go anywhere，” says Alain Minc， a business consultant in Paris who has advised Mr Bolloré for many years. Fortunately， he says， Mr Bolloré continued.

Adieu petrol， welcome Bolloré

Mr Bolloré’s technology is about to hit the road. In 2010 his group won a contract to run Autolib， a car-sharing scheme designed by Bertrand Delanöe， the mayor of Paris， which will put 3，000 electric vehicles on the city’s streets along with 1，120 stations for parking and recharging. Construction of the stations started in the summer， and Mr Bolloré will begin testing the service on October 1st before opening it to the public in December. Rechargeable batteries are now an important technology for the global car industry as it starts to make ever more electric and hybrid vehicles. Renault， a French manufacturer， is alone investing €4 billion （$5.6 billion） in a range of electric models which it will start selling this autumn. Many producers will unveil new electric vehicles next week when the Frankfurt Motor Show opens.

“Being a family company means we can invest for the long term，” says Mr Bolloré， who has spent €1.5 billion on battery development since 1996. Most of his group’s money comes from transport and logistics， with a strong position in Africa， and from petrol distribution in France. Mr Bolloré has also made billions from financial investments such as in Rue Imperiale， a holding company.

Autolib will be keenly watched throughout the car industry. It is the first large-scale city car-sharing service to use only electric vehicles from the outset; a scheme in Ulm in Germany， by contrast， started with diesel vehicles. Running Autolib could mean shouldering substantial losses for the Bolloré Group. Mr Bolloré was not expected to win the contract， but did so mainly because he offered low rental charges for drivers.

Blue is the new green

The city of Paris will cover most of the cost of the stations， but Mr Bolloré will pay an estimated €105m to supply his design of “Bluecar” vehicles and their batteries. He will bear a further €80m a year in running costs. The city’s estimates for how popular the new service will be are highly optimistic， said a recent study by the government. Autolib could make €33m a year for Mr Bolloré， according to the study， but it could easily just break even or lose as much as €60m annually. Autolib will also be the first time the group has operated in a big consumer-facing business where it will be held directly responsible for problems such as vandalism or breakdowns.

The real aim for Mr Bolloré， however， is to showcase his battery technology. His group has developed a type of rechargeable cell， called a lithium-metal polymer （LMP） battery. This is different from the lithium-ion batteries used by most of the car industry. Mr Bolloré believes fervently that his batteries are superior， mainly because they are safer. Lithium-ion batteries can explode if they overheat—which in the past happened in some laptops. Carmakers incorporate safety features to prevent the battery’s cells from overheating.

Mr Bolloré’s LMP batteries are said to be more stable when being charged and discharged， which is when batteries come under most strain. Just two European carmakers have seen the batteries， which are made only by the Bolloré Group. One car-industry executive says that though the LMP technology is attractive from a safety point of view， the batteries have to be heated up to function—which takes power and makes them less convenient to use.

Going up against the rest of the car industry may seem quixotic. Before he won Autolib， Mr Bolloré says， people may well have thought he and his team were mad to venture into such a new area. But they underestimated his group’s knowledge of electricity storage， he maintains. And if the growing number of electric cars on the road does lead to safety concerns over batteries， then Mr Bolloré’s LMP technology could move from the margin to the mainstream—provided， of course， they pass their test on the streets of Paris.