Two-thirds of electric car charging points used for less than a minute a day

Two-thirds of electric car charging points in Kingston were used for less than a minute a day last winter.

Only seven of the 21 charging points in the borough saw enough use to be included in recent statistics.

Most-used were plugs in St James’ Road, at Currie Motors by the Coombe Lane flyover, and at Asda in Kingston.

Drivers in St Mark’s Hill, Surbiton, plugged in for an average of 34 minutes a day between September 1 and December 31, last year.

Its even worse in Canterbury - Power sockets for charging electric cars has been used just four times it 12 months. Installed in Canterbury at a cost of £15,000 have been used just FOUR times in the past year, it's been revealed. £3,750 per charge :(

The power sockets were installed at the city’s three park and ride sites last August, costing Canterbury City Council £5,000 each.

This week, it emerged the authority has pulled the plug on one in Wincheap after it was vandalised early August

When the points were installed, the authority admitted it did not know how many green car owners there were locally, nor how many vehicles were likely to use them.

Bailey’s Nissan, thought to be the only electric car dealer in the city, has sold just two Nissan Leaf models in the past year, to people from Manchester.

The authority has since faced fierce criticism from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which branded it a “green vanity project”.