The AA Trust is launching the first ever free of charge EV driving course in collaboration with Chargemaster.

The course was launched following an AA Populus survey of 16,239 drivers, of which 32% said they want to learn to drive in an EV.

Drivers were asked, to what extent would you be interested in a free one-hour electric vehicle driving lesson – aimed to show you how to get the best out if an EV – in your local area?

  • 32% were interested (16% extremely interested, 16% interested)
  • 33% males interested, 30% females
  • 35% younger drivers (18-24, 25-34) interested as opposed to 31% older drivers (65+)
  • Drivers in London were more interested (35%) followed by those in West Midlands and South West (34%)
  • Drivers in North East least interested (26%) followed by those in eastern region (28%)
  • Those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also showed high levels of interest.

AA Driving School and Drive Tech trainers developed the experience in conjuction with Chargemaster and will be piloted in Milton Keynes with a view to be rolled out nationally.

AA Trust’s chairman Edmund King said: “We are approaching a tipping point as more and better electric cars come on stream.

“We want to help drivers understand this exciting new technology at the EV experience centre but we also want to help them get the most out of their electric cars.

“Drive electric sessions, conducted by AA instructors, can either be carried out in the driver’s own electric car, or in one of the EV experience centre’s test drive fleet. The EV Experience and Drive Electric experiences be really put Milton Keynes on the map as the most go-to EV City in the world.”

Chargemaster’s chief executive David Martell said: “The number of electric vehicles in the UK is continuing to grow, and we recently marked the 100,000th plug-in car registration in the UK.

“To get more people driving electric vehicles, getting them behind the wheel is key. The EV experience centre aims to do exactly that, and the drive electric experience sessions from the AA Trust will be a great way to help consumers better understand electric vehicles and how easy they are to live with and how to get the best out of them when driving.”