We often get asked if it is possible to learn to drive and take the test in an electric car in the UK. The simple answer is a simple yes. Many people have learnt to drive in electric vehicles (EVs) and successfully taken and passed the driving test in a zero-emissions vehicle. There are some caveats, though.
If you learn to drive and take the test in an electric car you will only be able to drive electric cars and automatic internal combustion engine (ICE) cars without gears. Today, automatic cars account for around 40 per cent of the ICE cars on the roads in the UK, so many do drive without gears.
Just learning to drive in a vehicle without a tailpipe has to be a good thing. That said, with sales of electric cars rising quicker than ever before, more drivers will inevitably want to learn to in one because more people will own and drive them.
According to new research by Go Car Credit, 2.6 million British people are too scared to learn how to drive. The research questioned 2,000 UK adults that don’t drive and their reasons for this.
We wonder whether this would be the case if these people were learning to drive in an electric vehicle? Electric cars are far easier to drive than traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles without the need for changing gears or learning how to use the clutch.
The research also found that one in five of those surveyed said that they were ‘too scared’ of driving to consider taking lessons and attempting to pass their test. This means that 2.6 million Brits avoid driving because of fear.
From our experience, and feedback from others who drive or have driven electric cars, the response is always how easy and user-friendly they are to drive. We know this would help lots of drivers overcome the fear of learning to drive if this was a sticking point. Learning to drive in a combustion engine vehicle feels archaic as we move towards a cleaner future.
Motorists who drive electric also benefit from cheaper maintenance and servicing costs because of fewer moving parts and cheaper ‘fuel’ costs. Electric cars are also far cheaper to run than their combustion equivalents which in the current climate is a massive bonus.
Generally, electric cars cost way under half that of a combustion engine vehicle to run. Zap-map offers a free calculator to compare the running costs of petrol, diesel and electric cars to help with this.
