Plans aimed at making it easier to recharge electric vehicles than refuel petrol or diesel models will be announced by the Transport Secretary.
Chris Grayling will unveil proposals that could lead to the installation of hundreds of thousands more charge points for electric vehicles to encourage more people to adopt ultra low-emission vehicles.
The initiatives included in the Government’s Road to Zero Strategy include more money to fund charging infrastructure and the need to assess whether new homes and offices should be required to install charge points as standard.
The strategy calls for new street lighting columns on UK roads with on-street parking to have charging points in appropriate locations.
The Government is also expected to outline more details of its ban on sales of new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040.
Alternatively-fuelled vehicles such as hybrids and pure electrics held just 5.5% of the UK’s new car market in the first six months of the year, compared with 4.2% during the same period in 2017.
Launching the Government’s plans to boost take-up of the technology, Mr Grayling will say: “The Road to Zero Strategy, combined with the measures we’ve already introduced, will mean Britain now has one of the most comprehensive support packages for zero-emission vehicles in the world.
“We want the UK to become the best country in the world in which to develop and manufacture zero-emission vehicles.
“The prize is not just a cleaner and healthier environment but a UK economy fit for the future and the chance to win a substantial slice of a market estimated to be worth up to £7.6 trillion by 2050.”
A study for motoring research charity the RAC Foundation found that growth in electric car use could be stalled by limitations in the public charging network.
The mass market appeal of ultra-green vehicles may be restricted without widespread, reliable and easy-to-use charging points, the report warned.
Separate AA research shows that eight out of 10 drivers see the lack of charging points as a stumbling block for them to buy an electric vehicle.
The motoring firm’s president Edmund King said: “A big push on a range of slow, fast and rapid charging points should help overcome this hurdle.
“The challenge is then for manufacturers to make a car worth buying.
“These Road to Vision Zero proposals are a step in the right direction but there is still much to do to wean drivers off petrol and diesel cars.”