The UK Prime Minister is earmarking a £106m (€119m) funding package to help drive an “ambitious mission” for the UK to become world leader in low-emission technology.

The plans are said to represent an “ambitious mission” for UK low-emission technology development

The announcement, being made today at the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Summit in Birmingham as part of the modern Industrial Strategy, will help drive projects for green battery, vehicle and refuelling technology.

The move is being accompanied by more than £500m (€562m) of investment from industry as well as a new international declaration on low emissions intended to forge the way for the worldwide deployment of green vehicles, and the introduction of smart, zero-emission infrastructure.

The Prime Minister is expected to say: “These measures will drive the design, use, uptake and infrastructure necessary for cleaner, greener vehicles – and in doing so, it will help us drastically reduce a major contributor to our global warming emissions, as we seek to meet the Paris Climate Change Agreement.”

Announcements by industry at the event include a further £50m (€56m) investment at Aston Martin’s new St Athan facility in Wales, which will become its centre for electrification and the home of the Lagonda brand.

The EV Network, a UK-based charging station development company, is developing 200 fast-charging stations throughout the UK, representing an investment of around £200m (€225m). The company has joined forces with Leclanché who will be supplying the battery storage solutions to the stations, and the two firms will develop an EV Charging Centre of Excellence in Warwick.

In addition, UK leasing giant Lex Autolease is launching a new £1m fund (€1.12m) for electric vehicle leases to incentivise zero-emission driving. The funding will be available to business and personal customers and is expected to help customers make the decision to go greener, backed up by electric vehicle support and guidance from Lex. The leasing giant said the move could increase the total number of pure electric vehicles registered in the UK next year by around 8% while also doubling the size of its own pure electric fleet.