THE NUMBER OF new electric cars in Ireland rose significantly last year, jumping by 81%.

15,262 new electric cars were licenced in 2022 compared to 8,554 in 2021, continuing an upwards trend as the vehicles grow in popularity, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office.

However, the number of electric vehicles in Ireland – seen as one means of reducing the heavy CO2 emissions produced by diesel and petrol counterparts – is still a distance away from the government’s 2030 aim of nearly one million, with the SEAI estimating a current presence of around 67,000.

Statistician in the CSO Transport Section Nele van der Wielen said that “today’s figures from the CSO show the continued growth in the number of electric cars licensed in Ireland”.

“The number of new electric cars licensed increased by 81% from 8,554 in 2021 to 15,462 in 2022. At the same time, the number of new diesel cars decreased. In 2022, 27,188 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 34,396 in 2021,” he said.

Of the new electric cars licensed in 2022, the top make and model was Volkswagen ID.4 (2,920). It was followed by Hyundai Ioniq (1,249) and Tesla Model 3 (1,054).

CSO CSO

By 2030, the transport sector must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared to 2018 to comply with legally-binding sectoral emissions ceilings approved by Government last year.

Experts believe a combination of reducing unnecessary trips, facilitating walking, cycling and public transport, and shifting to vehicles powered by renewable sources will be required for the sector to play its part in cutting emissions.

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Collectively, Ireland’s emissions targets follow the Paris Agreement in 2015 that called for countries to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and not to allow it to surpass 2 degrees.

Across the EU, the sale of new cars powered by fossil fuels will not be allowed from 2035 in a bid to make the transport sector carbon neutral by 2050.

The ban, which was approved by the European Parliament this year, means that “from 2035, all new cars that come on the market should be zero-emission and cannot emit any CO2″.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that the impacts of climate change are already causing severe and widespread disruption to people’s lives across various regions of the world and that urgent action is required to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.