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THE NUMBER OF new electric cars in Ireland rose significantly last year, jumping by 81%.
15,262 new electric cars were licenced in 2022 compared to 8,554 in 2021, continuing an upwards trend as the vehicles grow in popularity, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office.
However, the number of electric vehicles in Ireland – seen as one means of reducing the heavy CO2 emissions produced by diesel and petrol counterparts – is still a distance away from the government’s 2030 aim of nearly one million, with the SEAI estimating a current presence of around 67,000.
Statistician in the CSO Transport Section Nele van der Wielen said that “today’s figures from the CSO show the continued growth in the number of electric cars licensed in Ireland”.
“The number of new electric cars licensed increased by 81% from 8,554 in 2021 to 15,462 in 2022. At the same time, the number of new diesel cars decreased. In 2022, 27,188 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 34,396 in 2021,” he said.
Of the new electric cars licensed in 2022, the top make and model was Volkswagen ID.4 (2,920). It was followed by Hyundai Ioniq (1,249) and Tesla Model 3 (1,054).
By 2030, the transport sector must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared to 2018 to comply with legally-binding sectoral emissions ceilings approved by Government last year.
Experts believe a combination of reducing unnecessary trips, facilitating walking, cycling and public transport, and shifting to vehicles powered by renewable sources will be required for the sector to play its part in cutting emissions.
Collectively, Ireland’s emissions targets follow the Paris Agreement in 2015 that called for countries to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and not to allow it to surpass 2 degrees.
Across the EU, the sale of new cars powered by fossil fuels will not be allowed from 2035 in a bid to make the transport sector carbon neutral by 2050.
The ban, which was approved by the European Parliament this year, means that “from 2035, all new cars that come on the market should be zero-emission and cannot emit any CO2″.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the impacts of climate change are already causing severe and widespread disruption to people’s lives across various regions of the world and that urgent action is required to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.
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I know of 5 people who bought electric cars last year trading them in now goin back to petrol or diesel
@John Ryan: what’s their reasoning for that? Cost to run or lack of infrastructure?
@Gareth Keenan: Lack of infrastructure. I know some people doing the same thing.
@John Ryan: of course you do.
@John Ryan: I think you’ll f
@John Ryan: I think you’ll find that the vast majority of EV owners are very happy with their purchase.
@John Ryan: I bet you don’t!
@John Ryan: I wouldn’t even consider an EV unless a realistic range of at least 1000km was achievable, improved charging infrastructure, zero percent vat on home charging equipment.
@Manni: Do you often drive more than 1000km in a single day?
@John Ryan: I find this hard to believe John. Did they buy the cars intending to run them without a home charging set up?
You take on a certain element of risk with the purchase of a new car, especially when you consider the depreciation involved, but buying an electric car is an even bigger gamble. When the government incentivises you to purchase something, you should always be weary. They told us petrol cars = bad, diesel = good. That was just over 10 years ago… The infrastructure isnt there and never will be. Once the zealots face up to that fact, electric cars will become a nice fad, just like diesel powered racing vehicles were.
@An Drew Bearla: Well said.
With all the problems that they had with electric cars reported by Sky News over the Christmas period… the number of times they had to be charged due to cold weather… Certain elected car manufacturers had problems with batteries…I think I’ll stick to my dirty diesel
@Paul Maguire: Sky News you say? That bastion of integrity and credibility!!
@Sean McCarthy: cold weather is known to adversely affect batteries. Have a look at ‘long way up’ – 2 guys driving 2 electric motorcycles from patagonia to LA. They had a 120 mile range in california and a 60 mile range in patagonia due to the cold weather.
It’s great news for the child slaves in the DR Congo who get to work in the cobalt mines, ignorance is bliss though, so those e-car owners can just pretend they are doing something good.
@Dan Broderick: I am sure you were this concerned when purchasing the phone or computer you wrote that comment on.
@Gavin Conran: he conveniently ignored that plus the child labour used in some oil producing nations
@Gavin Conran: this phone is over 5 years old, I’ve learned a lot since then and grown as a person….can you say the same?
A lot of the people who buy these are just show offs who dont really give a stuff about the environment.
@Pauline Gallagher: I didn’t buy mine because of environmental reasons, the many reason was cost. Environmental benefits are just a bonus for me
@Pauline Gallagher: really, If I wanted to show off the last thing I’d buy is an electric car, especially a bland Tesla.
@Pauline Gallagher: Think you might be jealous Pauline, most Evs are boring and indistinguishable to an ICE car.
@Alan Biddulph: Ev’s are far from boring lad. Things have moved on considerably from the Nissan Leaf days
They might have jumped 81% in 2022 but thanks to the new BIK rates a lot less company car users will choose them going forward.
prices for second hand combustion engine car are through the roof also, its all related
@veronikahladova: so are all second hand ev’s through the roof, some cars being for just below purchase value even after 4 years
@veronikahladova: Hybrids too. It’s that classic Irish condition of proverbially tying our shoelaces together and then trying to run. VRT, insurance, and a handful of car dealers all need protecting, we are, after all, akin to livestock.
Buyer beware. I own an ID4 and the charging level has dropped significantly from when new. VW had it in 3 times and can’t fix it. Now they’re saying that this is normal. Thankfully my journeys are short but if you’re thinking of getting one, think long and hard. Am definitely hybrid next time.
@Bob Dalchan: When did you buy the car Bob? The battery life drops considerably in cold weather
@Gregson from the Block: I bought it July 2021. I know about the cold weather but it shouldn’t drop 100km. VW swords acknowledged that this is not normal but after several attempts trying to fix it are now told by the factory that this is normal. Wish I knew this before I bought the car.
I would love to know the breakdown where they are the second car in the household, for me this ultimately cancels out any good, but I think they are so unreliable in terms of battery, infrastructure etc that you would need a back up car …. So I’ll stick to my one diesel car
@Ruth Colbert: both cars in my household are ev’s
I have a bev with a 400 to 450 km range, I think its a fantastic car. I charge at home on cheap night rate electricity. However if I lived in an apartment I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole as the public charging infrastructure is dreadfull and costs as much as diesel.
They are perfect to use as a runabout around town. But a push bike or Vespa will do the same for a lot less cost and walking is free.
@Fuji Hakayito: To be honest EV’s are probably best suited to 150-220 km round trip commutes, the extra cost and size of the battery is completely wasted if you are only doing 10-20km trips.
A combo of walking, bikes/e-bikes/cargo bikes and public transport are the ideal runabout if the government would get their finger out and put easy and safer infrastructure in place.
@Bri Lyons: cheers for the link Bri. I know Tesla are looking to complete development of a Cobalt free car soon but there’s plenty of improvement to be done. Out of sight, out of mind sadly continues, cheers
With the extortionate price of an EV and the cost of charging them close or exceeding petrol or diesel depending on the charger you use… I can’t even afford a new small petrol car… There are only some few that are in a position to pay the ridiculous cost of EV when one can buy the same car for 15k less in the petrol or diesel variant… No chance I’ll be going Electric at this cost…
Brand New electric cars are the way to go, you get warranty for 2 to 3 year or a certain amount of kilometers. 2nd hand is a big gamble, if you get caught and have to replace battery units it can run very very expensive.
@aidan mccormack: only very small percentage of people can afford electric cars and there is a very limited application to their use & where you cán use them practically.
Electric cars as ecological solution of transport problem. There is probably only one country in Europe that electricity is produced from water turbines and is used to charge the batteries of electric cars. This completes the energy cycle and works well with government support and subsidies. In contrast, in the rest of Europe, energy is still produced traditionally and has nothing to do with something known as green energy. Just marketing. While the use of electric cars reduces pollution in the places of their use, the extraction of minerals for the production of batteries is not ecological anymore. People discover the electric car as something new, only it was made over 100 years ago.
EV’s are not the answer at all. Very dubious production of batteries, farcical range in cold weather and a complete lack of a usable infrastructure and ridiculously high purchase price .
Biofuels and synthetic fuels are. Porsche has invested over $100 million into the development of them.
I wouldn’t even consider an EV unless a realistic range of at least 1000km was achievable, improved charging infrastructure, zero percent vat on home charging equipment.
Electric cars reduce air pollution regardless of the energy mix they are charged from.
They are nice to drive and easy to maintain. For long trips in Ireland there are some drawbacks which need to be addressed, we need about 10 times the amount of chargers we have right now. In a way, It’s probably good that we are laggards in installing these as the next generation of EV chargers will be much better and easier to use than what has been installed in the past few years.
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