A Staffordshire company has launched a brand-new course aimed at business motorists who drive electric vehicles, or EV’s as they are affectionally called.
The ninety-minute – nine module on-line training course has been developed by Adrian, who runs Adrian Hide Consultancy – based in Cheadle in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
The Health & Safety Executive says that businesses must ensure that employees are competent and suitably trained to use any work equipment – an EV when used for work purposes, regardless of who owns it, would be viewed as ‘work equipment.’
The course is aimed at anyone new to driving an electric car or van, including hybrids, particularly those who haven’t had any previous experience of driving one, or those who just want to get the very best from their EV, especially around safety and range.
Topics covered include:
- The ‘must know’ EV driving tips
- The mindset of an EV driver
- How to maximise range
- EV defensive driving techniques
- Charging your EV
Adrian, who has over thirty year’s road safety industry experience, and is an EV driver himself said: “EV’s are great fun to drive – they are super quiet, powerful and packed with technology, but if you’ve no previous experience of driving one, there are quite a lot of things that you really do need to know, I suppose we cover the ‘I wish I knew that sooner’ topics!
He added: “While the course is primarily designed for first-time EV drivers, it’s a great reference for those who drive one but haven’t had any form of EV familiarisation. In my experience, most business vehicles are leased and the handover from the supplier is just that, handing over the keys! Because EV’s are so quiet and powerful, plus that thing called ‘regenerative braking’, an element of training is essential, not just from a safety point of view, but from an employer’s duty of care obligation under health and safety legislation.”
Adrian explained: “Our course has nine modules and over 90 minutes of content that can be tackled in bite sized chunks, providing drivers with the knowledge and confidence to drive an EV safely. our course takes you through some very important safety topics plus the planning considerations that reduce a phenonium called ‘range anxiety.
He said: “We’ll explain how to maximise their range by adopting a defensive driving style, which we demonstrate with in-vehicle filming, and we discuss everything you need to know about charging, both at home and how to use public charging points.”
Jon Burdekin, who is an experienced specialist consultant in helping clients make the transition to Electric Vehicles, and a course contributor said: “As well as making sure drivers know how to drive EV’s safely, this course will also help employees drive EVs cost-effectively. This will benefit both the driver – to minimise the cost of driving their private miles and the employer – to minimise the cost of driving business miles by minimising any impact on productivity by not maximising vehicle range. So many employees will just give the keys to the driver and let them get on with it. This course offers a gold standard alternative to that.”
Adrian Hide Consultancy offer a range of face to face and on-line road safety courses, as well as consultancy services, and driver risk management support and advice. For more information, please go to: www.adrianhideconsultancy.co.uk
Notes to Editors – More about Electric Vehicles
- They are very quiet – which poses a danger to pedestrians (especially those with their back to the driver and those who are hard of hearing)
- Super quick – they will out-perform any high-performance vehicle but that can be dangerous in the wrong hands
- Charge themselves – it’s called ‘regen’, when you take your foot off the accelerator the vehicle slows, as if you put the brakes on, this puts charge back into the battery – come off the accelerator too quickly and you might slow quicker than you anticipated.
