Free parking ‘could entice’ electric car buyers to market

Incentives for motorists such as free parking and using bus lanes should be considered to improve electric car sales, which has seen just 500 new registrations out of more than 90,000 this year.

That is according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, which said that electric cars had to be made normalised like they had in countries like Norway.

Director general Alan Nolan said: “We need to get away from electric cars being just a novelty and emphasise the benefits. The State has done a good job in financing the effort but making them more user-friendly in cities like Cork and Dublin would help hugely.”