The firm says it's keen to support customers who want to adopt electric vehicles for their business and will be offering test drives of the cars to those visiting the site.

The EVs will also serve as pool cars for staff travelling between the Newbury and Trowbridge offices and those attending customer and supplier meetings within the vehicles' approximate 80-100 mile range. Charging points have been installed at both offices.

The firm will be asking staff using the vehicles to log any journeys and their experience so that it can build up its own "user based" data to share with customers.

Simon Oliphant, CEO at Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, commented: 'Our customers are increasingly asking us about using electric vehicles for their business, but understandably have concerns through lack of experience with the technology. Having these vehicles on site is the perfect opportunity to give customers a taste of the future and the benefit of our experience, whilst also keeping our staff up-to-speed on the practical use of the cars.'

Hitachi Capital has already supplied the first fully-electric vehicle on contract hire to the Environment Agency, which now has a Mitsubishi i-MiEV on its fleet. Hitachi Capital's commitment to electric vehicle technology supports the group's Environmental Vision 2025 through which it aims to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million tons.