The country’s future drivers have spoken and want to learn about electric cars.
But in an eco-dilemma, the UK’s shortage of electric vehicle instructors is putting people off switching to electric vehicles, according to new research from charging network Gridserve.
As a result, this will likely spell the end for the manual transmission, with electric cars almost always sold with a single gear that eliminates the need for shifting.
Nearly half of drivers would likely take lessons in an electric car, new research from Gridserve has found, but only one in seven can find a local instructor offering lessons, making the switch to electric more challenging.
Which car? also reports a staggering 283 percent increase in the popularity of automated testing compared to a decade ago, with the transition to electric vehicles seen as playing a major role
There are differences across the UK when it comes to finding a local EV instructor: London is the easiest place, followed by the West Midlands, while learner drivers in the east of England will struggle to get EV driving lessons .
The sustainable energy and EV leasing company notes that almost half of motorists (48 percent) would rather take driving lessons in an electric car.
Yet only one in seven Gridserve and One Poll respondents can find a local instructor with a battery-powered model.
And whether you can find an EV instructor is a matter of geographical luck.
Two in five (41 percent) of pupils in London can find one, while only one in ten in Yorkshire or the East of England can.
The West Midlands also did better than average, with 23 percent able to take local EV driving lessons.
A concurrent survey of WhatCar? reports a staggering 283 percent increase in the popularity of automated testing compared to a decade ago, with the transition to electric vehicles seen as a key role in this shift.
EVs are mainly praised for their zero-emissions properties, but relaxed driving is another big draw.
Technically, electric cars don’t have automatic transmissions, but most people think of them as cars.
Instead, they are usually single-speed transmissions that provide instant acceleration without having to shift through a bunch of gears.
Logically, many may think that learning to drive an electric car is much easier than a manual car, just as it is easier to drive an automatic.
However, the driving test pass rate for automatic tests is lower than for manuals.
The 2021/22 data shows that the average car test pass rate was around 41.7 per cent, compared to an overall average pass rate of 48.9 per cent in the same period.
The trend towards automatic gearboxes becoming more common in all types of new cars could also influence students’ decisions, the report found.
Data on the range of new car models and sales shows that only 24 percent of new mainstream cars on sale are available with a manual transmission, and this is only likely to increase over the next decade.
With this in mind, motorists are looking ahead to the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars, knowing that they will likely be driving a car without a manual transmission in the not too distant future, if not immediately.
Electric cars and automatic cars are similar because you do not have to shift gears and that ensures a very relaxed drawing behavior
The old-fashioned physical skill of manual shifting is likely to become extinct as more and more new cars enter the market exclusively as automatics and electric cars become increasingly popular.
Unsurprisingly, three in ten novice drivers (29 percent) told Gridserve that there was no point in learning to drive manually if they were going to spend most of their lives in an automatic EV.
Nearly a quarter (24 percent) say they plan to celebrate the death by purchasing their first electric car.
Which car? Consumer editor Claire Evans said: ‘The popularity of automatic gearboxes is partly down to manufacturers and tech trends, as well as increasing demand for electric cars, which do not require traditional gearboxes.
And many younger drivers clearly don’t see the need to learn to drive manual transmissions as they are slowly being phased out.”
The desire to learn to drive electric is strongest among younger drivers who are thinking ahead to the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars
Younger environmentally conscious drivers are driving this desire to learn to drive an electric car, with 40 percent of people aged 18 to 24 more likely to choose an instructor if they offer electric car lessons.
But there is another issue that needs to be addressed and that is the low average pass rate for those learning electric cars.
According to Gridserve, in the past five years, only one in ten parents with offspring using L-plates on electric vehicles saw their children pass. And this also applies to automatic cars with a combustion engine.
Although it should be easier to pass your test in an electric car or an automatic car, more and more people are failing their test because they receive fewer lessons and lack road safety awareness and experience on the road.
Students are lulled into a false sense of security because the speed at which you can learn in an automatic or electric car can be much faster than in a manual car.
Gone are the early lessons on operating the clutch and starting on a hill, meaning drivers need fewer lessons.
However, the disadvantage is that this means that the students have not gained as much experience on the road or less road safety awareness, which means that the failure rate is higher.
With more than 70 percent of cars set to be automatically registered by 2023, there are likely to be calls to address this success rate problem.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on it, we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow a commercial relationship to compromise our editorial independence.