Mayor Boris Johnson, has challenged the Government to ‘put its money where its mouth is’ and back his ambitious plans to make London the electric vehicle capital of Europe, helping to create jobs, cut carbon emissions and improve air quality. He is known to be a keen supporter of electric vehicles and has outlined a series of major initiatives to achieve at least 100,000 electric vehicles on the capital’s streets as soon as possible, equating to five per cent of total vehicles. The Mayor said: ‘The time for simply talking about electric vehicles is over – we need real action on the ground to make the electric vehicle an easy choice for Londoners. I am committing millions to install the infrastructure needed for when, in just a few years time, these vehicles become much more widely available. This is an unprecedented package of measures to make London the electric car capital of Europe.”

The estimated cost of the 25,000 charging points and conversion of the Greater London Authority fleet to kick-start London’s electric vehicle revolution is £60million – the Mayor has pledged to fund a third of this and is calling for the Government and the private sector to commit the remainder.

Many of the world’s major car manufacturers are planning to turn their prototype electric vehicles into full production by 2012.