Electric and hybrid car sales have jumped significantly so far this year, according to new CSO figures.
However, the data for the first half of the year has shown a 6.5% drop in the number of new cars licensed, with just 77,639 new buyers, down 5,398 in comparison to last year.
Jonathan Hehir, Managing Director with Insuremycars.ie said: “The licensing and sales of e-cars, while still small, are on the rise, almost 70% in the first half of this year alone.
“These increases are in the face of a car sales market that is in decline, with the overall number of car sales so far this year showing a decrease of -12.2% compared to 2018.
“It would be interesting to take a close look at the regional distribution of electric and hybrid vehicles, what makes them more popular in some counties than others?
“The CSO reports Wicklow had the largest proportion of new private electric cars licensed in the first half of 2019 (4.7%), followed by 3.6% in Kildare and 3.5% in Leitrim.
“The distribution was even more distinct for hybrid vehicles, with Longford had the highest proportion 14.6%, followed by Galway with 13.1% and Cavan, 12.5%.”
Hyundai, Nissan, Renault, Volkswagen and BMW represented over 90% of new electric private cars licensed in the first six months of 2019.
In contrast, licensing of new petrol and diesel private cars fell.
Volkswagen was the most popular brand over the first six months of 2019, followed by Toyota and Hyundai.
The number of used imported private cars licensed increased by 2.8% as car buyers continue to take advantage of weaker exchange rates.
Thomas McGuire, secretary of the Irish EV Owners Association told the Irish Mirror that the government need to invest in more charging points to facilitate the increase in EVs.
He said: “Ideally most people charge their car at home but it does become a hassle when people are relying on the public network.
“For example I’m not sure if there’s any charging points for EV users in West Galway.
“The lack of charging points can act as a deterrent for those who want to invest in an EV.
“It would be ideal to have a charging point installed at hotels or at heritage centres.”
While Mr Hehir added: “The more that Government and others in the industry can do to make e-motoring an easy and attractive proposition, the better.
“Getting motorists to even consider migrating over to something as ‘new’ as e-motoring involves communicating the benefits of these cars, not just to the environment but to people themselves.”
