The council has signed a deal with charging point operator Believ to provide them over the next few years in a deal worth more than £20m.

It will concentrate the introduction on urban areas where there are densely-packed homes without their own garages or off-road parking so people cannot charge from home.

The council is using £5.3m it has been given by the government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund and Believ will be investing £16m in the project.

AA President Edmund King. (Image: Newsquest)

President of the AA Edmund King said the number of charging points was significant – as long as it was targeted in the right place.

He said: “Of those people who have electric vehicles and have off-street parking or a garage, 97% of vehicles are charged overnight on their own charging point using cheap  electricity between midnight  and 5am.

“To increase take-up of these vehicles, it needs to be easier to charge for people living  in terraced houses or flats with off-street parking – or communal parking areas.”

Commercial fast chargers can fully power a car in about 20 minutes. (Image: Newsquest) There are different types of chargers – those starting to become more common on forecourts were high-speed points that could power-up a car in 20 minutes while most homes used slower chargers that operated overnight.

Philip Fairclough-Mutton, cabinet member for the environment said: “25% of Suffolk households don’t have a driveway, and park on their street. This is a significant barrier for people who would like an EV.

“We are providing a solution by installing charge points on their street, or very nearby. Our ambition is to provide them with a public charge point within a 5-10 minute walk.”

Labour group leader Sandy Martin represents an urban division in Ipswich and said he hoped the county would talk to district councils to ensure charging points were provided to new social housing developments of small houses or flats.

He said: “I’m not sure how much they have talked together – but that is just the kind of property that really needs these kind of chargers.

“And some terraced homes are on narrow streets where drivers have to park their cars on pavements. How can they have public chargers fitted?”

A spokeswoman for the county council said they were talking to districts about trying to ensure chargers were provided for social housing tenants as part of new developments.