The company will be the centre of one of ten ‘charging clusters’ located around the UK, including a minimum of ten partipants each, which will each use a Nissan LEAF for 18 months to trial technology which monitors and controls charging to minimise the impact on the electrical grid.

Most will be residential areas, and each cluster will be based on sharing of the same substation feeder, meaning they will usually be in the same street or close proximity. The project is being led by electricity distribution company EA Technology, and financially backed by government utility regulator Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network fund.

In less than two months, My Electric Avenue has already had more than 700 registrations of interest, over 500 active leads, 185 champions (individuals recruiting nine neighbours for the project) and 42 emerging clusters, with several said to be close to launching.

Former government minister Lord Drayson, owner of Drayson Racing Technologies, said: ‘Electric vehicles have a key role to play in helping to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions, so it is essential to carry out research to ensure that the local electricity network can cope with increased numbers of EVs.

‘Drayson Racing is pleased to be leading the way in bringing together a cluster of local businesses to test the impact of EV charging in a workplace environment.’