West Devon Borough Council is starting work to install three electric vehicle charging points in the Old Mill car park in Okehampton.

The borough council is collaborating with energy company Scottish Power to undertake the first stage of the scheme as electric vehicles become more popular.

West Devon Borough Councillor Lynn Daniel said: ‘Electric cars are more economically viable now particularly as fossil fuel prices continue to rise steeply, and many more electric cars are being sold now. WDBC needs to provide these facilities for local people and visitors.’

Some parking bays will soon be coned off in preparation for the engineering work.

The initial work will see Scottish Power install three charging units which will cater for different types of vehicles in designated spaces. Electricity distribution company, Western Power Distribution will then connect the units to the National Grid.

The final stage of the work will see Scottish Power return to commission the machines, paint bays and mark them up as electric vehicle charging bays before a go-live date is set.

However, the stations are unlikely to be ready until the end of the year as Western Power is currently in high demand and the council need to receive permission from the landlord before work can take place.

North Tawton Town Council discussed the possibility of installing electric vehicle charging points in the town last November and decided that it would approach local businesses to see if they would be willing to install them. No firm decision has yet been made on whether to go ahead with the idea.

Electric vehicle charging points have started to be installed across the West Devon area in recent years.

In 2019, West Devon Borough Council initiated a two-year £1.3 million project to install at least 25 electric vehicle charge points for public use in car parks across Devon which included a Devon County Council grant of £817,712.

The scheme aimed to install electric vehicle charging points in car parks in Devon’s largest communities which included Tavistock and Okehampton.

It was scheduled to be completed by December 2021 and the council estimated that it would prevent more than 300 tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere every year.

The scheme followed a survey carried out at the time which suggested that some West Devon residents considered that the lack of public charging points influenced their decision whether to switch to an electric vehicle.

Dartmoor National Park is also moving towards becoming more environmentally-friendly and has plans to install electric vehicle charging points at the Postbridge centre as part of its plan to become net zero by 2025.

There are currently over 400 electric vehicle charging points across Devon.