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 conjunction 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.”

Source: AM Online

Yet to be convinced that electric cars are the future? EV stalwarts are hoping this unique ‘experience centre’ located in a shopping centre in Milton Keynes could be the encouragement you need to swap your diesel for a plug-in – and we’ve been for a behind-the-scenes look at the showroom which is being described as a “landmark moment”.

The EV experience centre is operated by Chargemaster using Government funds through Milton Keynes’ Go Ultra Low City status. It’s not a pop-up dealership – there’ll be no hard sell, just experts on hand to talk people through electric cars and advise about whether they’ll fit into their lifestyle.

“[There’s] a series of myths people have about electric cars,” transport minister Jesse Norman told Motoring Research during our preview of the EV experience centre.

“They think about whether they might be expensive or whether they’re hard to charge, and how long that takes. An experience centre that actually gives a person the experience of actually sitting behind the wheel or potentially driving it, that just knocks down a whole series of these myths and that makes it much easier to think about buying one.”

The showroom, located in Centre:MK, is multi-brand, displaying cars from partners including Renault, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Nissan, BMW and Kia. The experts on hand won’t be on commission and will be able to give independent advice on which – if any – electric car suits a particular person’s needs.

If an electric car won’t fit a person’s lifestyle, they’ll be honest that they’re better suited to a conventional petrol or diesel car – while, although Tesla isn’t a partner, a visitor with a big budget after a long range and high performance will be pointed in the direction of a Tesla dealership.

“With 17 million people a year coming into this particular shopping centre in Milton Keynes, that’s potentially an awful lot of people who are potentially going to be impressed by it,”

added Norman.

Read more: Motoring Research

The UK’s first multi-brand, electric vehicle showroom has opened in central Milton Keynes, with the ambitious aim of trebling the national take-up of EVs and plug-ins in the local area over the next five years.

The showroom, operated by Chargemaster as part of the Milton Keynes’ £9m Go Ultra Low City programme, won’t sell cars directly, and its 11 EV “gurus” are not salesman. They concentrate instead on educating people about the capabilities and advantages of electric vehicles and on showing them a selection of the latest EVs from VW, BMW, Kia, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, Chargemaster’s partners in the venture.

Q&A, David Martell, chief executive, Chargemaster

Will you be looking to attract visitors who are serious about electric cars?

Not necessarily. We’d like to talk to people who are simply curious about them, and want to reach the truth for themselves. We can help with all kinds of facts and figures, impartially delivered because we’re not selling anything. Or we can take people on a familiarization drive.

How does Chargemaster gain from such an apparently philanthropic exercise?

We’re convinced electric cars will play a vital part in future motoring. If that happens, as the country’s leading provider of charging points we’ll benefit. In the meantime, we’re aware of a lack of general knowledge about electric cars and we want to help address that.

When the number of EVs sold is still so small, how can you be confident about their future?

Three things: they’re a great answer to some of the difficult problems we’re facing, the population of EVs is increasing fast (5000 to 100,000 in five years) and the best models are easy to own yet great to drive. Latest forecasts say EV sales will reach 150,000 a year by 2020.

Read more: Autocar

The UK’s first multi-brand electric vehicle showroom – the Electric Vehicle (EV) Experience Centre, operated by Chargemaster – open[ed] its doors in the Centre:MK shopping centre on Saturday 22 July. It will be run by a team of professionally-trained EV gurus, providing information and advice, and visitors will be able to test drive the latest electric cars.

Open seven days a week, the EV Experience Centre will educate visitors on the benefits of driving an EV, supporting Milton Keynes’ transformation into the UK’s first Go Ultra Low City. From impartial advice on specific models, government grants available, different types of plug-in vehicle and charging options, the centre will cover every aspect of EV ownership.

The role of the 11 EV gurus is purely to educate, inform and advise visitors in a relaxed environment, with no sales pressure. The EV Experience centre is part of Milton Keynes Council’s Go Ultra Low City scheme, funded by government, and supports the town’s aim for electric vehicles to make up 23% of all new car sales in the local area within five years.

Jesse Norman MP, Roads Minister said, “We awarded £9m to Milton Keynes to encourage the take-up of ultra-low emission vehicles and it is great to see the city leading the way. There are now more than 100,000 ultra low emission vehicles on our roads, and it is our ambition that nearly every car and van in the UK is zero-emission by 2050.

“We want to retain our position as a global leader in the development, manufacture and use of ultra-low emission vehicles and have committed to invest more than £600m by 2020. Grants worth up to £4,500 are available off the price of new ultra-low emission cars, and I hope many more people will take up this offer.”

Read more: FleetPoint