Wiltshire Council is to receive a grant of £180,000 for more charging points for electric cars as part of a Government push to promote low emissions vehicles.

The government will invest more than £9 million to boost the number of charging points for electric cars, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced yesterday as he launched a joint campaign with car manufacturers to promote the benefits of ultra low emission vehicles.

Major car manufacturers BMW, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Vauxhall are all backing the Go Ultra Low campaign in a ground-breaking partnership with government to debunk common myths and misconceptions that put drivers off switching to electric or hybrid cars, such as cost and how far the vehicles can travel before being recharged.

Electric car owners do not have to pay car tax or congestion charges and many chargepoints are free to use.

The cars cost from just 2p a mile to run, which means a family that drives an electric vehicle 10,000 miles in a year would save around £1,000 on fuel costs every year.