Newcastle (UK) is set to become the country’s electric car capital with 1,000 charging points. The Regional Development Agency One North East has just installed two charging posts in its head office car park and is currently awaiting delivery of a further 29 posts, in the pilot phase of the project, which aims to create a comprehensive charging infrastructure across the North East.

The experience gained will also help other UK cities and utility companies to design appropriate networks. The Newcastle network will form the basis of demonstrator programmes involving electric commercial and passenger vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf and people carriers, minibuses and taxis made by Smith Electric Vehicles.

Once complete, this may make electric vehicles a real option for some. But the time taken to recharge a car battery is likely to remain a limiting factor for many