Majority of electric car buyers say they wouldn't go back to petrol or diesel
Charged: On In An Vehicles, Hybrids, Sustainable Energy Roads, Last October Our Including Being According There Year, Plug 67,000 Electric Ireland Car Were In To Electric
Ireland has a long way to go before catching up with other European countries in relation to electric cars. Hope is that, slowly, but ever so surely, we’ll get there.
A chat, the other day, with a highly experienced figure in the motor industry was revealing. “We’ve (his company) been selling electric cars for well over 10 years and it can be changed beyond comprehension for most people — fear of the unknown. A lot of people are not mentally ready for it,’’ he said.
In October last year, there were 67,000 electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, on our roads, according to Sustainable Energy Ireland. Numbers have since gone up, but it’s still only a tiny share of the 2,800,000 vehicles in Ireland.
“Irish people are notoriously slow to change, and there’s also a disconnect between the public and car manufacturers who should be communicating much more effectively with people," said our industry expert.
“And, however reluctant they might be initially to purchase an electric car, 80% to 90% of buyers say they wouldn’t go back to petrol, or diesel, particularly after they see enormous savings in fuel and maintenance costs."
CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB
Electric car sales here last year almost doubled from the 8,646 registered in 2021. The Government’s target is to have close to a million electric vehicles on our roads by 2030, with an end to the sale of diesel and petrol cars by then.
And, given the continuing rise in greenhouse gas emissions here, with the transport area being a contributor to that, you wonder if this is another ambitious target that will not be reached.
Ireland is about halfway down the European electric car league table topped by Norway, where 80% of all new cars purchased last year were plug-in electric. At this stage, 20% of cars on Norwegian roads are electric, compared with around 2.5% here. Norway aims to have all cars zero-emission by 2025.
The Norwegian government gives tax and road toll exemptions to buyers of these cars. You could, of course, say that the country can well afford that because of the vast wealth generated by its oil reserves, ironically enough.
Visiting some Nordic countries, I’ve always been taken by their strong inclination to abide by the law and to do the right thing, especially regarding environmental matters.
Unsurprisingly, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark follow Norway, which leads by some distance, in the league table.
The European Parliament has voted that all vehicles in the EU should be electric by 2035, described as an “enormous challenge" by MEP Sean Kelly. By then, people should also have better options to walk, cycle, or use public transport.