The first five right hand drive electric cars from Tesla rolled into London on Friday, heralding the start of the firm’s plan to spread its electric roots across the UK.

With prices starting from £50,280, including the £5,000 government plug-in grant, the Model S can travel 312 miles on one charge.

Tesla also energised the first Supercharger location in the UK, at Siemens’ flagship building the Crystal at London’s Royal Victoria Docks.

This is hoped to be the first point on a route to Paris and eventually the rest of Europe.

Founder Elon Musk said: “We are looking at locations across the capital to place our first set of inner city Superchargers.

“We expect customers to be able to travel the length of the UK and Ireland for free using our Superchargers within the next 18 months.”

It plans to have more “superchargers” which can charge half a car battery in 20 minutes across the UK by the end of the year.