Electric vehicle (EV) owners are set to benefit from thousands of new public charging points across the UK, the Department for Transport has announced.

The government has said it will inject £56 million into the expansion of the EV charging infrastructure to alleviate some of the EV range anxiety felt by thousands of EV drivers who cannot find easily available chargers.

Sixteen local authorities, including Sunderland, Rotherham and Norfolk, will benefit from the new cash boost to support the EV charge point rollout.

Technology and Decarbonisation Transport Minister Jesse Norman said: “The government is giving local authorities across England additional help today to energise their chargepoint rollout plans.

“Today’s commitment will lead to thousands of new chargers being installed, and plans for tens of thousands extra in due course, so that more people than ever can make the transition to using EVs.”