While Londoners are able to rent a ‘Boris Bike’ whenever the mood takes them, hiring a car in a similar manner is not something residents of the capital can expect anytime soon. Not so in Hangzhou, China, where a company called Kandi Car is planning a huge network of ‘car vending machine’ garages from which locals can rent a car for as little as $3.25 per hour. Eventually, 100,000 cars will be available to rent in the city.

Similar schemes are being developed and run by Tesla Motors in the USA, but Kandi Car’s ambitions appear to be of the more rapid variety. 300 garages are planned in Hangzhou, meaning drivers won’t have to go far to return their cars. The large network also means the car can be returned to an outlet before a meeting or social engagement, and then another rented for the return trip; the customer will therefore not pay for the car while it is parked up.

As of 2010 Hangzhou had 8.7 million residents, so if the scheme works out well, it will set a benchmark for many other global cities as a way of reducing congestion and air pollution – both issues that acutely affect Chinese cities.

The car available will not, however, be of the most glamorous type; a Mercedes-Benz Smart Car style electric vehicle will be on offer, with a top speed of just 50mph. But in a city where most speed limits are 30mph, this will hardly be a problem. And the issue of battery re-charging has been addressed with a ‘battery swap’ strategy: once a battery is dead, Kandi Car will simply exchange it for a charged one, and then re-charge the dead cell at its convenience.

Could this be the future of inner city motoring? Kandi Car certainly thinks so, and America’s Tesla Motors is of the same opinion. It will certainly take away some of the costs of owning a car (maintenance, insurance, car breakdown cover), but will also remove the prestige of owning a vehicle like a Range Rover or a Porsche.