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The Prime Minister's climate spokesman was yesterday accused of backing myths that electric cars have a short range.
Allegra Stratton said she did not want to switch her ageing VW Golf diesel with an electric car yet because she needed a vehicle she could use 'without having to make lengthy stops to recharge the battery'.
The former BBC Newsnight political editor, who is paid up to £129,000 a year as a special adviser, said: 'I don't fancy [an electric car] just yet.'
But critics said she was stoking misplaced 'range anxiety' as electric cars can commonly go for 200 miles without a recharge.
Miss Stratton, 41, who lives in London with her family, told Times Radio she might opt for an electric car if 'the stop times for recharging improve so much that it's half an hour'.
AA president Edmund King told The Times too many views on electric cars are 'myth, based on hype and unwarranted range anxiety'.
He said it took just 20 minutes of rapid charge to lift electric levels from a quarter to 80 per cent.
Going electric is a key part of the Government's climate strategy. No new petrol and diesel cars will be allowed to go on sale by 2030.
