BMW Group, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen are some of the car firms that have teamed up to accelerate the deployment of a charging network for electric vehicles (EVs).

Porsche, Audi and Daimler AG are also part of project that will cover long-distance travel routes in Europe.

They aim to roll out around 400 charging stations across the continent although BMW said customers would have access to thousands of high-powered charging points by 2020.

The network, which will have power levels up to 350kW, will be significantly faster than the most powerful charging systems currently available.

The build-up is planned to start in 2017.

Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW said: “This high-power charging network provides motorists with another strong argument to move towards electric mobility. The BMW Group has initiated numerous public charging infrastructure projects over the last years. The joint project is another major milestone clearly demonstrating that competitors are combining forces to ramp-up e-mobility.”

In the UK, the government has pledged up to £390 million by 2020/21 to support ultra-low emissions vehicles (ULEVs).

Last week, Volkswagen announced it will stop selling diesel cars in the US.