Fifty free electric car charging points are being installed at train stations around the country.

The first four chargers are now live at Uphall, Bathgate, East Kilbride and Johnstone stations, with the remainder set to follow over the coming weeks.

A total of 100 spaces will be created at 50 of ScotRail Alliance's station car parks by the end of the year, joining more than 700 publicly-available charge points across the country.

The chargers are available to all customers parking at the stations and are free to use although drivers must hold a valid ChargePlace Scotland card to activate the device.

ScotRail Alliance's programmes and transformation director Ian McConnell, said: "We're building the best railway Scotland has ever had, and improved facilities for customers at our stations is a huge part of this.

"These additions to our car parks, combined with longer trains, more seats and better services, will all help us to achieve our aim of reducing the carbon footprint from door to door."

A complete charge from the 22kW supply will typically take around four hours.

A fleet of four electric vans, Nissan NV200s, is also being brought in by the company to replace a number of existing diesel vehicles.

ScotRail Alliance said it was leasing the vehicles as part of its work to reduce its environmental impact.

Rebecca Roper, community manager at ChargePlace Scotland, said: "We are delighted to welcome the new ScotRail Alliance charge points onto the growing ChargePlace Scotland network.

"The addition of these charge points presents the opportunity for greener commuting and travel, and also provides more recharging options at convenient locations for the increasing number of electric vehicles on Scotland's roads."

Last week First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced plans to ''massively'' expand electric car charging points.

She also revealed a target to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2032, and the creation of low emissions zones in Scotland's four largest cities by 2020.