ELECTRIC SWITCH: From $700 a month on fuel to $2 a day

The first driving school in Australia to take lessons in an electric car is based in Ipswich. Here’s why they made the switch from using petrol cars.

Queensland School of Motoring owner Rob Newman.

ROB Newman does not regret making the switch from a petrol car to an electric vehicle for a second.

For one, he used to spend $700 a month on fuel.

Now it costs him roughly $2 a day to power his Hyundai IONIQ.

Mr Newman is the owner of the Queensland School of Motoring, which is the first driving school in Australia to teach using an electric vehicle.

Based in Ipswich, he takes lessons across the city, Greater Springfield and Forest Lakes.

He bought the electric car last year for $53,000, wanting to get on board with where the industry was headed.

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So far, he has covered more than 70,000km.

“I would say as we go forward over the next five years, there will be a bigger uptake of electric vehicles,” he said.

“I can see as the electric industry gets bigger and bigger, I think there will be more and more driving schools with electric vehicles.

“I think they will be more accessible as well.

Rob Newman with his Hyundai IONIQ.

“I think there’s a misconception that you sit around for hours and hours on end waiting for the car to charge up. When in reality it’s 20 or 25 minutes.

“When you get home at night, you plug it into the side of your house.”

Mr Newman has been running his business for six years and is looking to take on a couple more instructors to service the rapidly growing city.

Springfield was particularly well set up with charging points.

“You’re setting up drivers for the future,” he said.

“I believe it is a driving school’s responsibility to give students a good, rounded education in driving and also give them the option of driving different cars.”

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He said his IONIQ had proven to be a great purchase.

“The students absolutely love it,” he said.

“They say the drive is so much better (than a petrol car).

“I can get around about 250km roughly out of mine give or take.

“They’re very dear to buy at the start but you save money as you use them.

“My fuel bill used to be around $700 a month. Now to charge up a day, it costs me about $2.

“As a car they’re very, very easy to live with. I find they’re a lot easier to live with than a petrol car.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

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