DRIVERS will be able to charge their electric cars in under half an hour while sipping on a fresh cup of coffee in an “airport lounge”, as part of major new plans in south Essex.

Proposals have been unveiled for a huge electric charging forecourt north of the A127, just off Nevendon Road in Wickford, which will see 36 electric charging bays installed.

The plans, which have been well supported by council chiefs, will come with an airport-style lounge, alongside high speed internet and coffee shops.

It is hoped that drivers will use the forecourt, courtesy of Gridserve, as a pit-stop on their journey through south Essex.

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Craig Rimmer, chairman of the leisure and environment committee, said: “This is something that we should wholeheartedly welcome to Basildon.

“The A127 is the ideal place to have something like this, with the problems we’ve had with air quality along the road.

“We want a combination of larger electric sites like this, and developers to include several in plans they bring forward.”

The car parking spaces will offer charging times of between 20 and 30 minutes, which will speed up further in the future.

Drivers will be able to reserve charging slots.

Michelle Tuddenham, 40, who lives near the Wick, added: “I’m behind something like this being built here, and I think that is the only site it could go.

“We don’t want to be putting it on green belt land.

“I’ve looked at buying an electric car, but my budget hasn’t allowed it.

“I’m quite in favour of it, it’s the way things are going.”

Basildon has been notorious for poor air quality, specifically along and around the A127.

A clean air zone, which would have resulted in charging drivers, was threatened by the Government.

To combat poor air quality, plans are afoot to straighten the Fortune of War former roundabout” on the dual carriageway.