Plans to drastically increase the number of electric vehicle charging points have been unveiled by North Ayrshire Council.

At a cabinet meeting on February 21 the authority announced plans to work in partnership with South and East Ayrshire Councils to multiply the number of charge points from 126 to 433 throughout Ayrshire.

The councils aim for 99 per cent of houses to be within a 10-minute drive of a charging point as they hope to achieve their net-zero commitments.

Councillor Tony Gurney, Cabinet Member for Economy and Climate Change, said: “As a council we are striving to be net-zero by 2030 and the transition away from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles will play a huge role in us achieving this.

“We want to improve the reach of the public electric vehicle charging network, and we have positioned our proposals to take advantage of national grant funding to support the investment.

“To achieve economies of scale, we are looking to roll-out these additional charge points in partnership with our colleagues in East and South Ayrshire Councils, who are expected to consider the proposals for themselves in the coming few weeks.”

The councils will seek funding for the charge points through Transport Scotland’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund as well as private sector investment.

Full plans will be detailed later this year and the authorities hope there will be a contractor attached by the middle of 2024.

More details on the plans as well as a full list of proposed charging point locations can be found between page 45 and page 61 of North Ayrshire Council’s cabinet meeting details: www.tinyurl.com/NACcabinetmeetingfeb21.