Hybrid cars ‘can cost €10k more to run’

MOTORISTS who switch to electric or hybrid cars to cut down on CO2 emissions could be paying up to €10,000 extra in costs over the lifetime of the vehicle compared to conventional petrol models.

A new series of reports on environmentally friendly vehicles by the national energy agency, Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), have revealed that there are few immediate economic benefits for motorists who switch to environmentally friendly vehicles, apart from the owners of petrol vans.

People driving cars, diesel vans, minibuses and buses would all pay higher total costs by changing to electric or hybrid models, according to the SEI reports.