4 mins read
The Irish government has been actively promoting the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) for a number of years now, and the Department of Transport see EVs having an important role to play in our Climate Action Plan 2024, helping to decarbonise the transport sector, and eliminate tailpipe emissions from the private car fleet.
In this plan, the target is to have 945,000 EVs on the road by 2030, of which 845,000 are expected to be private passenger cars. While the growth in EVs has accelerated exponentially in Ireland in recent years (for example, new EV sales in 2023 were up +45% in 2023 compared to the previous year according to the CSO), we are lagging well behind where we need to be in terms of that ambitious government target.
In 2023, BEVs (excluding hybrid) represented about 19% of the total number of new cars licenced in Ireland which is below the European average of 23% and well behind some Scandinavian countries with similar population sizes, e.g. Norway at 82% and Finland at 53%. We are however above the likes of Spain and Italy where new EV registrations were below 10%. As such, you could argue that we are doing well compared to some, but we have certainly more to do compared to others.
With about 115,000 EVs on Irish roads currently (5% of total cars), this leaves a gap of roughly 730k new EVs required over the next 6-7 years to hit the government’s emissions reduction targets (51% total reduction across all sectors). According to recent analysis conducted by Researchers in UCC, to achieve this, Ireland needs about 41,000 EV sales in 2024 (almost double 2023’s figure of 22,493), but critically that figure needs to rise to 185,000 per year by 2030.
So, despite the rapid growth in EVs in Ireland, you can see the scale of the challenge ahead in terms of the volume of EVs needed if they are to help hit the ambitious targets to 2030 set by the government.
It is hugely important that incentives in place for people to switch to EVs such as a grant of up to €3,500 available to all private individuals who buy a new EV, and a grant of €600 available for the installation of a home charger, must remain in place in the longer-term.
Have you been considering making the switch to an Electric Vehicle or Electric Fleet? Check out our range of EV’s here.