Last Updated: 01/01/2020
The number of new drivers who are opting to learn how to drive in an electric car is on the increase.
Sales of electric vehicles have been growing for a couple of years as demand for a more environmentally friendly way of travelling increases.
In fact, in September 2019, there was an increase of 236.4% in fully battery-operated electric vehicle registrations. The increase for registrations of petrol cars was just 4.5%.
It’s a stark indication of the genuine rise of the electric vehicle and how the automotive market is seeing a real change in consumer habits.
With such a surge in sales, it should be of no surprise that more people than ever before are looking to take their driving lessons in electric cars.
Today, specialist driving schools are popping-up throughout the company which offer driving lessons in electric cars only.
Other driving schools are also offering lessons in the greener equivalents while still continuing to offer lessons in the more traditional formats of petrol/diesel cars.
There are definite advantages of taking driving lessons and ultimately your test in an electric car.
The shift toward greener transportation is not going to be a flash-in-the-pan trend; it will be here to stay.
The government has ambitious plans to see all road users eventually switch to electric cars, certainly on a consumer level.
With this in mind, learning to drive in an electric car makes sense.
New drivers will be familiar with some of the uniqueness of driving these types of vehicles and also how to maintain them.
As such, they’re going to be ahead of the curve as the rest of the population transitions over to electric vehicles.
Furthermore, once you own an electric car, the running costs are significantly lower than the petrol or diesel counter-parts, however, taking your driving lessons in a car of this type also has disadvantages.
Firstly, if you learn in an electric car only, and then pass your test in one, you will not be permitted to drive a petrol engine car.
If you ever wish to go back to petrol, you would have to take your driving test again which would almost certainly mean that you would need a run of lessons going in to it.
Additionally, the cost of setting yourself up as an electric car user cannot be underestimated.
While running costs can be lower in terms of a day-to-day basis, mechanical issues can be more expensive to fix due to the specialist nature of the vehicles.
Furthermore, the initial outlay of buying a fully electric car is often significantly more than a traditional car. There is also very little in the way of a used electric car market.
In summary, taking driving lessons in electric cars will almost certainly continue to become more and more popular, however, many will argue that the advantages of learning to drive a traditional petrol/diesel engine car far outweigh those of learning in an electric counterpart.
Also, let’s not forget that once you have passed your test in a traditional manual transmission car, you can move to electric cars or automatic transmission cars without the need for any further driver training or tests.