Just 3% of State-owned vehicles either electric or hybrid

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said "the Government should put its money where its mouth is" on electric vehicles

Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan and 

Just over 3% of all State-owned vehicles are either electric or hybrid models.

In total, 391 of the 12,213 vehicles owned by government departments or agencies were fully-electric or hybrid at the end of June, according to figures provided by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.

The figures show that 277 of the vehicles are fully electric, 68 are petrol/electric, 29 are diesel/electric, and 17 are plug-in hybrids. The NTA in June announced an order for 120 double-decker battery-electric buses, while Dublin Bus is aiming to have 100 double-decker battery-electric buses at the beginning of 2023.

In total, there are around 52,000 electric vehicles on Irish roads out of over 2.9 million overall. This equates to 1.8%, lower than the overall State ownership. However, Ireland has ambitious targets around the ownership of electric vehicles on our roads by 2030. 

A new office within the Department of Transport, Zero Emissions Vehicle Ireland (ZEVI), has set out to increase the number of charging points and incentivise electric vehicle ownership, but Ms Whitmore told the Irish Examiner that the Government and its agencies need to show leadership in purchasing and not just incentivising ownership of electric vehicles.

"We have ambitious targets when it comes to EV ownership. But the move across to them will need leadership because meeting those targets will be difficult.

"Obviously, there will be some places where EV ownership may not be practical - I'm thinking of the likes of the gardaí - but where possible, EVs should become the go-to. Because then the infrastructure will follow. 

"We know that there is something of a deficit in infrastructure, but this would force action. The Government should put its money where its mouth is."