This is hopefully a good sign that drivers’ concerns over high charging costs are being listened to.

Milton Keynes Council and Chargemaster have announced an improved vehicle charging network, offering upgraded charging points and reduced costs for electric vehicle owners in the borough.

Chargemaster, as Milton Keynes’ electric vehicle charging partner, has significantly reduced costs of charging private and company electric cars in the city, with prices now lower than the typical cost of charging at home.

The new POLAR Plus subscription scheme has a usage rate of just 9p per kWh with effect from August 10th, 2015 and applies to over 200 charging points in Milton Keynes including 50 rapid chargers recently installed under a government-funded scheme.

This compares with a typical home electricity rate of approximately 11p per kWh.

Membership of POLAR Plus costs £7.85 per month – similar to popular streaming services Netflix or Amazon Instant – and the first six months’ subscription is free.

Membership gives EV drivers unlimited access to over 4000 POLAR charging points across the country.

In addition, members can accrue usage points, enabling them to borrow, for one week, a range of electric cars through POLAR EXPERIENCE. This fleet includes the BMW i8 and Tesla Model S, as well as Nissan LEAF, Renault ZOE and the fun Renault Twizy.

In future, new EVs launching, including the Tesla Model X SUV and vehicles from Audi and Mercedes, will be available for members to sample shortly after their introduction.

Milton Keynes has already established itself as an extremely convenient location to own an electric car with more rapid chargers than any other city in Europe.

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Milton Keynes Mayor Keith McLean, who test drove the BMW i8 this week, said:

“Electric cars are truly here to stay now with virtually every car manufacturer bringing out new plug-in models. I am proud that Milton Keynes now has such great facilities to encourage low emission vehicles.”

Read more: One MK