Autumn Budget includes £540 million into electric cars

Electric and driverless cars in the UK have been given a major boost by the Chancellor today. A total of £540 million ($716 million) is being invested in electric cars, including £400 million ($530 million) on building more electric car charging points. While there are currently only 4,500 charging stations in the UK, the investment will enable this number to dramatically increase. Philip Hammond said this will pave the way for driverless vehicles, and added that red tape will be cut to allow technology firms to test autonomous cars on public roads by 2021. The budget revealed that £400 million ($530 million) is being invested in electric car charging infrastructure, £100 million ($132 million) is being invested in plug-in car grants and £40 million ($53 million) is being invested in electric car charging research and development.