Hundreds more electric car charge points are set to be installed across the West of England after Metro Mayor Dan Norris secured £7 million to boost to his plans for an “electric car revolution”.

Mr Norris’s Mayoral Combined Authority will get up to £6.6 million from government for purchasing and installing hundreds more electric vehicle charging points in the wider region - and a further £560,000 to administer the new charge points, he confirmed.

The provisional funding is dependent on suitable plans to be agreed with ministers and local authorities, and adds to the £5 million brought forward by Mr Norris already as part of his £60 million Green Recovery Plan to install charge points across the West of England, including more than 200 planned in this financial year alone, in places like Hotwells in Bristol city centre.

Installing more charge points is seen as one of the main ways of making electric vehicles more appealing, with Mayor Norris saying he wants charging locals’ electric car to be “as easy - if not easier – than filling up at the pump”.

Currently there are over 580 publicly available charging points in the West in places such as the car park on Midsomer Norton South Road and the charging area in Lyde Green, but forecasts suggest that more than 1,800 could be needed to reach the ambitious West of England net-zero-by-2030 target.

Mr Norris himself stressed today the need to go “much further and much faster” as he vowed to redouble efforts to “turbocharge” the number of charge points in the region. He said: "In order to have an ‘electric vehicle revolution’ we need to turbocharge efforts to make charging your car as easy – if not easier – than filling up at the pump. That's why this is such a big win for our region as my West of England Mayoral Combined Authority accelerates the rollout of easily available, reliable and straightforward to use charging points in the West of England - to make it easier than ever to own an electric car, wherever in the region you live. That’s also a vital step if we are going to reach our very ambitious net-zero targets.”

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in the UK will be banned from 2030.