Ireland is moving definitively in the right direction when it comes to the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) – but more work still needs to be done to ensure the public charging infrastructure can keep up with plug-in vehicle demand.
Using a variety of sources and data, Carzone can reveal that while sales of new EVs rocketed in 2023 to their highest level yet – and with Ireland ahead of the European average market growth for new EV demand – we also have one of the highest ratios of EVs to public charging points.
However, the country also had the highest charge point installation growth figure of any in Europe between Q3 2022 and Q2 2023, with a 129 per cent increase in the number of publicly accessible stations.
Here, we drill down further into the figures which show precisely where Ireland current stands in terms of EV adoption.
2023 was record EV sales year
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has published its sales figures for 2023, and it’s good news for all new-car sales, not just EVs.
In the past 12 months, 121,850 new cars were registered on Ireland’s roads, an increase of 16 per cent on the 2022 figure (105,398) and even 4 per cent up on 2019’s 117,109 new-car sales, which was the last full year of trading prior to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Music to the government’s ears, which is trying to make 30 per cent of Ireland’s national private car fleet electric by 2030 – or, in other terms, aiming for a million EVs on our roads in six years’ time – is that of those new-car sales in 2023, 22,789 were for pure EVs, representing a sizeable 18.7 per cent market share.
That EV figure compares to 15,678 sold in 2022, with 2023 45.4 per cent up on the previous 12 months – and a simply massive 561.7 per cent increase on the 2019 tally of new EV sales, which stood at just 3,444.
Demand showed no signs of tailing off at the end of 2023, either, as 199 new EVs were registered in the final month of 2024. That compares to 88 in December 2022 (+126.1 per cent) and just 31 in December 2019 (+541.9 per cent).
Indeed, with the top-five-selling EV brands here being Volkswagen, Tesla, Hyundai, Kia and then MG, Ireland’s most preferred EV– VW’s ID.4 SUV – was in the top five for all types of vehicles in 2023, beaten only by the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Yaris Cross. It should be pointed out that all four of these have strong hybrid and plug-in hybrid representation in their ranges, too.
While petrol (30.07 per cent market share) and diesel (22.16 per cent) remained the two main propulsion types in 2023, according to SIMI’s data, EVs outsold both hybrids (18.54 per cent) and plug-in hybrids (8.28 per cent) – but, taken altogether, these electrified vehicles amounted to 45.5 per cent of Ireland’s entire new-car sales in the past 12 months.
Brian Cooke, SIMI’s director general, said: “[It] was a year of progress for the Irish motor industry, both in terms of new vehicle registrations and EV sales. The growth in EV sales continued into 2023, with an increase in market share from 15 per cent in 2022 to nearly 19 per cent in 2023.
“We do expect to see some growth in EV sales again in 2024, but key to this will be the ongoing government support, both in terms of vehicle and taxation incentives and investment in a fit-for-purpose charging infrastructure. The mix in the new-car market however, from electric to hybrid to more traditional engine types, highlights the diverse nature of Irish motorists’ driving requirements, and reducing the age of the national fleet, as well as moving to zero-emission vehicles, will be vital if we want to get close to Ireland’s climate goals.”
Only 11th on European EV attractiveness list
Meanwhile, Cornwall Insight produced the third version of its EV Country Attractiveness (EVCA) Index towards the end of 2023, in collaboration with law firm Shoosmiths.
The EVCA figures showed that Ireland’s EV sales grew 66 per cent between the middle of 2022 and 2023, ahead of the average 60.6 per cent growth in all 27 of the EU markets.
Yet, despite this surging demand, there are 19.7 EVs on the country’s roads for every one of the public charging points currently installed.
That’s one of the highest figures in Europe and comes despite government incentives such as the National EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy increasing Ireland’s accessible charging points by 129 per cent in the past year – the highest percentage growth for that metric in all of Europe.
It is these factors, along with the addition of two new countries to the 2023 EVCA Index (Latvia and Sweden), which have seen Ireland drop from ninth to eleventh place overall in the final rankings. Norway retains the top spot for EV attractiveness.
We’re moving in the right direction, though. Jamie Maule, research analyst at Cornwall Insight, told EV website Current: “Ireland’s EV market has demonstrated remarkable growth, positioning the country as a standout performer in European EV expansion this year. The limited availability of public charge points in Ireland has presented a barrier to EV adoption, and the new focus on expanding its infrastructure is a promising step.”
More charge points on the way: ZEVI chief
Speaking to RTE earlier in 2023, Aoife O’Grady – the head of Zero Emissions Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI), the government body in charge of driving the move to one million EVs on our roads by 2030 – said there were around 1,700 to 1,800 public charging points in Ireland, but the aim was to have up to 3,000 installed by the end of 2024, with the present number having to be doubled to 3,600 the year after that.
She added that a scheme to install 1,200 chargers at sports clubs across the country should conclude by the end of this year, with two further programmes – one focusing on community centres, with the other aiming to target public destinations such as cinemas, parks and visitor attractions – following on into 2025.
Dr O’Grady also said that the charging points being installed in the coming years would be high-speed units, capable of replenishing EVs to 80 per cent battery in less than 30 minutes, rather than slower 22- and 43kW AC connections which have typically been favoured across the country.
Moving in the right direction
Ireland’s current EV adoption state is, while not without challenges and areas rife for improvement, better than it has been.
According to Eurostat data, in 2021 there were 21,000 EVs on our roads, rising to 37,000 in 2022; both represented less than 1 per cent of the national private car fleet.
With another 23,000 registered in 2023 alone, and assuming the vast majority of EVs already in service continue to be used, our national EV fleet is now approaching the 60,000 marker. That means there’s a long way to go to get up to 1,000,000 EVs by 2030, but similar incremental steps in sales in the years to come will help with getting close to that target.
That said, as recently as the middle of 2022, we were deemed the worst country in Europe to own an EV.
Data sourced by Uswitch from the European Commission’s Alternative Fuel Observatory (AFO) said we had a low density of public chargers, at just 0.22 per square kilometre, as well as too many EVs for charging points (a problem which remains, despite the rapid installation of new units) and high annual charging costs.
The AFO data was collated and then synthesised into a score out of ten for all countries in the survey, with the Netherlands coming out on top with a mark of 8.23. Ireland, to its shame, scored a meagre 1.45 out of ten.
Grants to help out
It’s clear that developing the infrastructure will be key to how Ireland is perceived as an EV-friendly and savvy country in the future, then, but there are obviously incentives which are driving the consumer demand in new EV sales.
These include a wide series of grants that help people with the costs of migrating to EVs, including a scheme to help with the installation of a home charging point – an item crucial to running any EV at its cheapest possible level – as well as a relief on VRT of up to €5,000 on vehicles worth less than €40,000 new. That VRT rebate is lessened for cars in the €40,000-€50,000 bracket, and not available at all on any new EV which costs more than €50,000.
There has also been some rollback on previous measures, with the government’s €5,000 grant towards the purchase price of a new EV reduced to €3,500 from July 2023 onwards. The Low Emissions Vehicle Toll Incentive (LEVTI), which reduced various road fees for greener machines, also ended on December 31, 2023. Finally, the maximum grant available to help with the installation of a home charger has been reduced to just €300.
Carzone - 09-Jan-2024