An admirer of electric vehicles is on a mission to persuade Barnet Council to introduce power points to charge the green machines in the borough.

John-Paul Flintoff, a journalist from Prospect Road, Childs Hill, was sold on the idea of buying an electric car after seeing one being test-driven in central London.

"The main reason I'm interested in them is due to the little time we have got left with oil, and I thought, What can I do?'" he said.

"My wife and I drive into the congestion zone. We spend about £15 a day on the congestion charge, petrol and parking, and that's just the obvious stuff. It doesn't include things like insurance or tax.

"If we could save money that would be great."

The car he has set his sights on, and put in an order for, is G-Wiz, made by the Reva Electric Car Company of Bangalore, India, priced at £7,999 and sold through retailer GoinGreen.

Three weeks ago, Mr Flintoff leafleted his neighbours with details about the alternative engine, telling them about a campaign in support of car sockets which he had set up online.

He received support from ten of them, and Liberal Democrat councillors Monroe and Suzette Palmer also back his campaign.

Key benefits for him are that owners of the emission-free car pay no road tax or congestion charge, the vehicle falls in the lowest insurance group and drivers can park for free in certain parts of London.

The fact that the G-Wiz only does 40 miles per hour does not dampen his enthusiasm he says it makes an ideal city runaround and he delights in the fact that it runs for a whole year on as little as £45-worth of electricity.

Mr Flintoff wants the council, which has broken new ground by introducing compulsory recycling, to install sockets on the pavement, or allow residents, who would pay an administrative charge for the benefit, to run cables under paving stones. Otherwise, he said, only people with off-street parking can run an electric car.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "We are taking the question of electric cars into consideration. This will be included as a research item to be taken to cabinet in the near future."

For more information about Mr Flintoff's campaign, visit www.pledge bank.com/carsockets