RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 24 -- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second largest city, plans to launch an electric-vehicle sharing service with input from Chinese automaker BYD, local media reported on Tuesday.

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 daily said.

"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.

Carsharing, which operates in cities worldwide, allows drivers to rent a vehicle by the hour, a convenience for those who don't need a car full time or want to try a different model from the one they have.

BYD, which unveiled the world's first battery-powered coach in January, has other projects under way in Brazil.

In July, the company will launch a battery plant for electric vehicles in Campinas, Sao Paulo state, said the daily. The plant will also produce solar panels and assemble buses.

BYD plans to invest 400 million U.S. dollars in Brazil by 2018.