BRANDON, Fla. — Bloomingdale High School in Valrico is the first high school in Florida to have an electric car in its driver’s education class.
“Electric cars are the future, (and) we want to make sure our students know how to drive these cars safely,” driver’s education instructor Mike Langford said.
Hillsborough County Public Schools and TECO partnered for the program. TECO representatives say it’s taken a few years to get the program running and will also provide an electric car to King High School and Sickles High School.
“The biggest challenge for teens learning to drive them is remembering to charge it. It’s something you’re not used to doing after driving,” Langford said. “You have to plan ahead a little bit more when you have an electric car, and we want students to understand that.”
The Tampa-based energy company is also paying for the charging equipment, the installation and the lease payments. They hope to expand this program beyond the current three schools but don’t have a timeline for when that could happen.
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