Electric car sales driven up by 81%

Irish drivers switching to greener motors

- DANNY DE VAAL

ELECTRIC vehicles have sparked a connection with Irish drivers amid a massive boom in sales, new figures reveal.

The Central Statistics Office said the number of new fully electric cars increased from 8,554 in 2021 to 15,462 in 2022 - representing an 81 percent increase.

The data also shows that the amount of imported diesel cars to Ireland fell by 55 percent from 36,495 to 16,370 during the same period.

While the total amount of newly-licensed vehicles which were diesel was just 27 percent compared with 34 percent in 2021.

Nele van der Wielen, who is a statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: "Today's figures from the CSO show the continued growth in the number of electric cars licensed in Ireland.

While Sinead Cassidy who works for Kylemore Cars said she's noticed a massive increase in demand for hybrid vehicles.