Sales of electric cars power ahead in Limerick as new registrations are up
ELECTRIC vehicle (EV) sales are on the rise in Limerick, according to new date released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).
Between January and April, 285 new EVs were registered in Limerick - up from 195, a 46.5% increase, on the previous year for the same period.
From a wider perspective, across Ireland, new electric vehicle registrations for the month of April showed "strong growth", where they were up 46% (1,870) when compared to April 2022 (1,280).
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General stated there is a big need to keep the latest figures rising. "The momentum behind new EV sales is clearly there, but we need to continue to incentivise EV purchases if we want to continue the growth in the new EV market share, but also to create an active used EV market," he said.
As an incentive to consumers to purchase EVs, last year, the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, announced a suite of grants and initiatives to make it easier for people and businesses to make the switch to electric vehicles (EVs).
As a result, a new grant, The Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant, was set up as a government funded support scheme assisting residents and homeowners to install an electric vehicle charge point on their property.
According to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the scheme provides a grant up to the value of €600 towards the purchase and installation of a home charger unit to any homeowner, whether they have an EV or not.
In general, the number of new car registrations during April was up 14% (8,941) when compared to April 2022 (7,857).
At the end of April, a total of 67,018 new cars had been registered across the country versus 57,762 in 2022.
This represents an increase of 16% on last year's year to date sales.
Nationally, the top-selling car for April 2023 was the Dacia Sandero, and the top-selling electric car was the Volkswagen ID.4.