Electric cars rest in a line at a rental station in Taiyuan, North China’s Shanxi province. [Photo/ sxrb.com]

Taiyuan, a city in North China’s Shanxi province, has established seven pilot rental stations for electric vehicles.

The cars can be rented like bicycles on a time-based billing. By using a smartphone application, users can get information about the number of cars in each station, the usable mileage of the electric cars, the charging standard and making appointment.

Local residents said that the electric vehicle is a convenient, economical and eco-friendly way of travel. The easy operation and low price of renting such cars has attracted many elderly people to try the cars.

Taiyuan expects to see 500 public electric vehicles available for rent and expand to 200 to 300 rental stations by the end of this year.