Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank the Business Committee for giving me the opportunity to make this legislative proposal today. I drove my first electric car back in 2009 in China. I was filming in the BYD company factory—a company that was established in 1995 that develops batteries, and that claims to be the biggest manufacturer of electric cars in the world. They sold 100,000 electric cars last year, and there is a chance that many people listening to this haven’t heard of BYD, and I think that is characteristic or symptomatic of the relationship between Wales and electric cars.

There are major developments happening in this area, but they’re not known by people in Wales. Yes, there are some electric cars around the place, but they’re still rare. There are some hybrid cars, but we’re not talking about those today—they still have engines burning petrol and diesel that pollute the environment. But in a matter of a few decades this will all change.

There are long-term pledges starting to emerge already to get rid of the diesel and petrol engines entirely. The UK and French Governments have mentioned 2040, for example, as a target to aim for. But the choice for us in Wales is now clear. We can wait for the electric car revolution to happen to us, or we can try and lead that change—prepare the way, and try to encourage the people of Wales to take a lead on this, which will be inevitable anyway, ultimately. What I’m proposing is legislation that would be a step forward towards ensuring the kind of infrastructure that we will need to charge these electric vehicles, in order to make it easier for people to choose this new technology.