To qualify for the discount, which reduces the cost of the £900 POD Point unit to around £400, participants must provide feedback and usage data back to Charge Your Car, which will use the information to assess how drivers use electric vehicles.

The units feature software which checks the car and power source before charging to avoid risks, and reduces charging times by up to 50% compared to a public charging point.

Josey Wardle, project manager for Charge your Car, said: ‘The data collected from the trial will help us to bring about improvements that in turn will help to boost the growing number of electric vehicles on the roads, both in the North East and UK wide, over the coming years.’

Charge Your Car has already installed 80 domestic charging points and 300 public points in the North East, with plans to have a network of 1,000 public access units installed by March 2013.

Wardle added: ‘Charge your Car is carrying out a lot of work to ensure that the public charging point network meets the demands of EV drivers in the North East, however, it is equally important to encourage domestic charging points to be installed in homes to make it even easier for drivers to make the switch to low carbon vehicles.'