NORTH Yorkshire will see a new network of electric vehicle (EV) charging points installed at rural locations after the county council succeeded in a bid for £2.2m of funding.

North Yorkshire County Council's proposal for 140 charge points at locations across each of the county’s seven boroughs and districts won approval and will be financed from part of a £20m national pilot.

The money will come from the Government and industry - and each area will get 20 chargers.

The council has devised a scheme to install charge points alongside battery storage units, which will be charged by solar panels, making them environmentally friendly.

The scheme is called the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme and in North Yorkshire it will see residential charge points in both on-street locations and larger petrol-station type charging hubs.

The county council’s executive member for climate change, Councillor Greg White, said: “We worked hard to come up with an innovate scheme. The Government clearly saw the merit in our plans and we are delighted that we will now be able to press ahead with this work.

"It is an important step in our plans to ensure the county has an EV charging network which can meet everyone’s needs.”