Portsmouth City Council became one of the first authorities to be awarded the cash by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles to install more charging points for electric cars in residential areas. Over the summer, 50 new charging points will be fitted across 21 sites in the city. Ahead of this on-street residential scheme, the council has begun installing charge points in busy council-owned car parks as part of a two-year trial. Jointly funded by the council and CityEV, two charge points are now up and running, with a third planned for later in the spring. Both Isambard Brunel multi-storey and The Seafront Esplanade car parks received new charge points in February. These charge points are free to use during the first year of the two-year trial. Councillor Simon Bosher, Portsmouth traffic and transportation boss, said: ‘These two schemes demonstrate our commitment to improving air quality by encouraging electric-vehicle ownership in Portsmouth. ‘We want to make it easy for residents and visitors to charge their vehicles. ‘We have chosen three of our busiest car parks and worked with residents to identify potential locations of the on-street charge points.’ To find the nearest electric vehicle charge point in Portsmouth visit: zap-map.com and search for ‘Portsmouth’.