York is set to become the first city in the UK to install a network of pay-as-you-go charging points for electric vehicles, and an event will be held this month to encourage the use of electric vehicles across the city

The scheme was announced last July by Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker.

In addition to the 12 charging points already located across York, a network of fast charging points will be installed in city centre car parks and Park & Ride sites to allow residents and visitors to re-charge their cars on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The network will be installed by City of York Council and will be publicly accessible and have a simple payment system so that users can pay by phone/text in a similar way drivers currently pay for parking in council owned car parks.

Once installed, in the coming months, users can track all their energy usage remotely and see live availability of charge points from their mobile phones.

By registering their debit/credit card details, payments can instantly be made to pay for the charge time which will be at a very low cost compared to the price of petrol/diesel.

The charging point cables are secured behind a locking flap which guards against cable theft when charging and are operated by an internal GSM transmitter.

The charging facilities, being rolled out at the York Designer Outlet, supermarkets and hotels can add a 30-mile range to a vehicle’s battery within half an hour of use.

Renault Zoe

A ‘Switched On’ event will take place at the south entrance of York Designer Outlet on Wednesday 10 April from 10.30 – 4pm and will feature electric supercar the Tesla Roadster.

Electric cars from Nissan, Toyota, Mia and the new Renault ZOE will also make its UK public debut, and there will be a range of fun activities for families, including test drives.

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service, the first in the country to trial electric ambulances, will be displaying one of its vehicles at the Switched On event.

For more information about Switched On, click here.

Concerns still remain about the limited range of electric powered vehicles. Further technological progress is needed before large numbers are likely to be seen on our roads.