The plans will be presented at the Cenex LCV2012 event, held on the 5th and 6th of September at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. Charge Your Car said the network will be underpinned by the Open Charge Point protocol, an industry standard which allows charging points from multiple manufacturers to communicate with the same back office system.

Charge Your Car Limited, a joint venture between the North East’s Plugged-in Places scheme and charging point manufacturer Elektromotive, already has a pay-by-phone, pay-as-you-go system in operation across its network of 400 points in the North East.  The second generation version of this system will be used for the nationwide network.

Alexandra Prescott, operations manager at Charge Your Car, said: ‘The UK has multiple regional networks of charge points in closed membership schemes, which is delaying the adoption of electric vehicles in the UK. EV users cannot ‘roam’; they need to join multiple membership schemes, pay multiple subscriptions, and use multiple means of accessing the charge points.  All of this creates hassle and imposes unnecessary expense.

‘Most EV drivers charge at home overnight, so the public network is for topping up and extended-range journeys.  We know from research that EV drivers want to be able to access charging infrastructure in the same way as they buy petrol or park their car: pay-as-you-go, without joining membership schemes or paying a monthly subscription,’ she explained.