A video designed to help first time electric company car drivers adapt to their new vehicle safely has been created by Arval UK.
It highlights five key areas: adjusting to the quicker acceleration of electric cars; understanding how to use regenerative braking; considering the need for longer stopping distances; exercising additional caution due to the vehicles’ quietness around pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable parties in the Highway Code’s hierarchy of road users; and planning ahead to manage driving range.
Presented by broadcast television host Kevin Harris, it is available for viewing by all fleets and their drivers.
Ian Pearson, head of insurance at Arval UK, said that with electric cars being widely used across fleets, their specific safety considerations had become better understood.
“We now have several years of experience with electric cars and know much more about the nature of safety issues that drivers encounter when using them. This knowledge has been used to underpin the content of the video.
“Our core message is very much that electric cars are in many respects similar to the petrol or diesel vehicles to which drivers are accustomed, but their torque, weight and quietness do mean they need to be driven slightly differently.
“It’s also important that drivers spend time familiarising themselves with the high level of technology with which they are equipped. An understanding of range is essential and most are also fitted with a wide range of advanced safety devices.”
