ONE of the largest electric car charging sites in the UK has been created at a business park in Swindon.

Staff at Arval, a global vehicle leasing firm with an office on the Windmill Hill Business Park, can now choose from one of 43 electric car charging points.

A further seven points are available to companies at the same site.

The company has also invested in a fleet of 120 hybrid company cars.

Ailsa Firth, HR director at Arval, charged her Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in electric hybrid, and told the Adver it also made commercial sense for the business to invest in green cars.

"We're really proud to be one the first major companies in Swindon to do this," she said.

"More and more people are starting to have hybrid and electric cars and we were getting employees asking us for charging points.

"It's been employer-led as well, we are trying to promote people to use this type of vehicle, it's part of who we are to be investing in new technology.

"Even if you don't buy into the environmental angle there are usually really good tax incentives.

"From a perspective on the taxes saved on company cars its beneficial."

It will take around three hours for each employee to charge a standard car at the new points, meaning there is actually enough space to charge 100 cars a day.

Research carried out by the International Council on Clean Transportation, suggests electric vehicles cost less to operate than petrol and diesel cars over their lifetime.

The charge points at the Arval UK offices are provided by European firm NewMotion.

All Arval employees who register will be provided with a validated charge fob and will be able to charge at work for free for the first six months from when charge points go live.

They will be also able to use over 100,000 publicly available NewMotion charging locations throughout Europe, accessible with the same charge fob.

The company is also set to kick off a hydrogen car roadshow in Swindon on April 14 before it tours the country to spread awareness of the benefits of hydrogen vehicles.

It is also one of the key partners in Swindon-based project the Hydrogen Hub.