As we are all being encouraged to make the switch to electric vehicles, with Swindon Borough Council proposing making it a rule that every new house comes with a charging point built in, one senior councillor is fully charged up with the idea of moving away from petrol- or diesel-fuelled vehicles.

Councillor Brian Ford, the cabinet member for adults services has been driving his fully electric Kia E-niro for two months - and he loves it.

He said: "My previous car was a Mitsubishi hybrid SUV with a petrol and electric engine. I really liked it but it would only give you 26 to 28 miles on a charge. If it had been 80 or 100 miles I probably would have kept it."

There are no such worries over range with Coun Ford's new car: "Officially its range is 282 miles on a full charge - but actually, it tells you how far you've got left, and it's more like 290 odd miles."

And he has tested it: "I drove to Thornbury to play golf, a few weeks ago and came home to Swindon, had 10 minutes to eat something and go out, drove to Oxford to pick up my son, took him to Northampton and coming back got onto the M1 going in the wrong direction and went up to Milton Keynes. I got back with 27 miles left in the battery.

"When I got to Oxford I knew I was getting home."

While an E-niro is not cheap, starting at £23,000, Coun Ford says it's very cheap to run - he pays about £8.35 for a full charge, or 3p per mile compared to £50 for 300 miles in a petrol car.

"I wouldn't go back. This is the way things are going.

"There are more than 13,000 charging points in the UK, about 8 or10 in Swindon and more every day."