Under the French plan, the company (and its Alliance partner Nissan) will give away around 1,000 fast charger kits costing around €5,000 each to be used in car parks, supermarkets and other public spaces which are privately owned.

Renault is understood to be frustrated at the speed of development and lack of investment in an electric vehicle recharging infrastructure in its home market.

A spokesman for Renault in the UK said that the company would not be following the French lead, although added that ‘more infrastructure would be fantastic’.

Renault wouldn’t be drawn on sales figures for electric vehicles in the UK, but said that its forthcoming ZOE electric supermini, due on sale in October or November, would be ‘our killer car’ and would account for three quarters of Renault’s UK electric vehicle sales.

The spokesman added that the Kangoo Z.E. van was being trialled by companies, but firms want to undertake longer field trials before committing to the new technology.

Generally, sales of electric vehicles in the UK have been disappointing and with Government plans to end their exemption from Benefit in Kind tax in 2015, the uptake among company buyers could diminish further.

Department for Transport figures up to the end of March show that 1,276 claims have been made through the Plug-in Car Grant scheme which discounts an EV by £5,000. No figures for the Plug-in Van Grant, which offers an £8,000 discount, are available.