There is roughly one charging point for every 10 electric vehicles in the island.

That is according to the chair of Manx Utilities, John Wannenburgh, who also confirmed that the first charging point within a residential estate is currently being installed at the new School Hill development in Castletown.

Talking during last week’s April Tynwald sitting, Mr Wannenburgh said: ‘Given the limited allocation of parking availability within housing estates, it sometimes proves difficult for developers to assign spaces dedicated to electric vehicle charging.

‘To date, Manx Utilities has only installed electric vehicle charging points within the housing estate at the School Hill development in Castletown, but other charging points have been installed within residual areas such as public car parks, and the majority of these are close to residential housing.

‘As electric vehicles evolve, and numbers increase, discussions will continue to take place with local authorities to discuss the allocation of electric vehicle charging points within their areas.’

Describing it as ‘good news’, Mr Wannenburgh said that there is currently 1,306 registered electric vehicles in the island, with there being 133 charging points - roughly one charging point for every 10 vehicles.

It was also re-affirmed that it is the Building Control Department who hold responsibility for the infrastructure of charging points, but that Manx Utilities are in ‘continual communication’ with them.

April 2023 saw road tax rise by 10%, the first increase in road tax for three years. The minimum annual charge rose to £65, which also applied to all electric vehicles for the very first time.

Infrastructure Minister at the time, Chris Thomas, said: ‘While fees are being introduced for electric vehicles, it is important to highlight the department’s commitment to restricting the registration of higher polluting cars and vans through separate legislation that will be brought forward in line with powers included in the Climate Change Act.’

The Isle of Man Government has previously said that in six years’ time, it’s ‘likely that there will be more than 13,000 electric vehicles in the island’.

The introduction of fees for electric vehicles was intended as the first step towards ‘harmonising’ the amount of duty paid by owners of zero emission, hybrid and fossil-fuelled vehicles.