Soaring demand sees record month for electric vehicle sales

New electric car registrations reached their highest month on record in January, with 3,682 new vehicles being added to Irish roads.

According to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), last month's figures represent a 36.5% year-on-year, increase in sales, with just 2,697 EVs being registered in January 2022.

The eco-conscious substitutes now account for 13.5% of the marketplace, with further growth forecasted following the improvement in global supply chains.

"We are still in the early stages of the EV project and the recent announcement of increased funding by the State for the national charging infrastructure will help allay range anxiety concerns and encourage more motorists to look at an EV," said Director General of SIMI, Brian Cooke.

Government support is necessary to encourage continued demand for EVs, adds Mr Cooke, noting that, "the extension of grants, reduced tolling charges and VRT reliefs, as well as halting the reduction in the EV Benefit-In-Kind reliefs, should be on the agenda."

Cork accounted for 11.38% of new EV registrations, with Limerick, Waterford and Clare all seeing increases, with a market share of 3.12%, 2.04% and 1.63% respectively.

Altogether, total new car registrations were up 9.4% in January when compared with the previous year, representing an additional 2,350 vehicles.

Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) were up 10.1% compared to January last year with Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) registrations also increasing by 52.5% in comparison to January 2022.

Imported Used Cars saw a 6.3% (3,786) decrease in January 2023, when compared to January 2022 (4,041).

Furthermore, automatic transmissions have risen significantly in popularity, now with a 58.11% of market share, while manual transmissions now account for 41.81%.

While Mr Cooke notes that the general increase in registrations is an "important step in the right direction for the industry," the director general noted that sales still remain 15% behind Pre-Covid levels.