EV charger grants up nearly 40% during the first months of the year 

SEAI data shows just under 10,000 grants have been approved so far this year

Up to March this year, there have been 13,980 new electric cars registered. 

There was a near 40% increase in the number of electric car charging grants approved by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) during the first three months of the year, as the number of electric cars on the roads continues to increase.

During the first three months of this year, there have been 13,980 new electric cars registered — up from 9,964 during the same period last year. In that time, the SEAI approved 9,412 grants for home electric car chargers — up from the 6,725 in early 2025.

Last month alone recorded the second highest monthly number of grant approvals for electric car home chargers at 3,499. January and February this year were also the third and fourth highest ever for grant approvals at 2,983 and 2,930 respectively.

December 2023 saw the largest number of grant approvals for home chargers, with a total of 5,340. However, this surge was likely due to an impending reduction in the overall value of the grant.

Prior to January 1, 2024, the value of the grant stood at €600, after which it was reduced down to €300.

While 2025 saw the largest number of new electric cars registered on an annual basis so far, at 23,601, it was actually 2023 that saw the largest number of grants approved, at 28,213 compared to 25,893 last year.

The electric car market, and subsequently grants, saw a drop-off during 2024.

These figures come as the conflict in the Middle East has caused energy prices, particularly petrol and diesel prices, to increase significantly. Brent crude oil, an industry benchmark, was trading at just under $100 per barrel on Wednesday, still significantly higher than before the war in late February when it was trading at about $64 a barrel.

The increase quickly led to higher prices at the pumps for consumers, and despite measures introduced by the Government to reduce those costs, they remain still ahead of where they were two months ago.

Seeing this increase, and considering petrol and diesel prices may not be as quick to come down, consumers may be looking to shift to electric cars.

In addition, car marketplace DoneDeal has published new data which shows automatic cars have overtaken manual cars in listings on the platform for the first time, due in part to the increase in electric and hybrid vehicles.

The company said in late 2021, manuals outnumbered automatics on the site by more than two to one, with about 56,000 manuals listed against roughly 22,000 automatics. Since then, automatic listings have risen steadily every year, while manual listings have fallen by more than a quarter.

Head of automotive content and communications at DoneDeal Cars Paddy Comyn said for “most of my lifetime, Irish drivers bought manuals by a margin of roughly five to one”.

“In the space of a decade, that has completely reversed, and the used market has now followed. What our data shows is that this has not been a sudden flip."

"Automatic listings on DoneDeal have climbed steadily every year since 2022, while manuals have slowly declined. The crossover at the start of 2026 is the moment a four-year trend finally broke the surface,” he said.

Mr Comyn said there were three factors driving this change.

Electric cars and most hybrids don’t have manual gearboxes at all, modern automatics are no longer “thirstier” than manuals, and they work far more smoothly with the safety technology now standard on new cars, such as adaptive cruise control and lane keeping.