By Ryan Maher

Electric vehicle drivers have called for more charging points in Glasgow to cope with demand.

It comes as the Scottish Government launched a £1m fund to help convert engines and exhausts of taxis, heavy good vehicles and micro-businesses to comply with the city's low emission zone (LEZ) targets of 2023.

Glasgow currently has 136 charging points, however only ten of those are rapid charging - the fastest option - with just three of those inside the low emission zone.

Gary Bowers was the first owner of an electric taxi in Scotland in 2018 and believes investment is needed.

He said: "The more electric cabs that are on the road, the more people that want to use these chargers.

"Some of the chargers that are available, you've got to pay to get into them, even though using the charger is free.

"It may work out that it's cheaper to run the vehicle on the petrol - it defeats the purpose."

There are currently more than 2500 electric vehicles in Glasgow, but it's estimated 35,000 could be on the roads by 2022.

Gavin Thomson, from campaign group Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "There is a lot still to be done to increase the amount of electric cars we have in Glasgow - we need a huge expansion of the charging points.

"We need to move as quickly as possible and Glasgow's low emission zones move far too slowly for me."

Transport secretary Michael Matheson said: "Scotland has got the most ambitious climate change targets in the world.

"We have a range of funds in place to support people looking to purchase an ultra-low emission vehicle."

Glasgow City Council is planning on doubling the amount of charging points - but it's not yet known how many will be rapid chargers.