SALES OF NEW electric vehicles are down 24.9% in the first half of the year when compared to the same period in 2023.

That’s according to figures released today by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) for 241 new vehicle registrations.

In the year to date as of June, there were 10,747 new electric vehicles (EVs) sold, down from 14,307 over the same period last year.

This figure is a huge increase however in the first half of 2019 in pre-pandemic times, when only 1,954 EVs were sold.

But the drop-off is even more stark when comparing June of this year to last year.

There were 692 EVs sold last month, a 51.7% drop when compared to the 1,432 EVs sold in June 2023.

And while new car sales across the board were down by 49.9% last month when compared to June 2023 (1,499 v 2,990), in the year to June there was a 1.7% increase (78,492 v 77,602).

So far this year, petrol vehicles lead the new car market share at 32.96%, followed by diesel at 22.89%, then Hybrid (petrol electric) at 20.11%.

This is followed by EVs at 13.61%, and lastly plug-in electric hybrids at 8.83%.

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, said the decline in the new EV car market “continues to highlight the need for the Government to support the EV transition”.

Cooke said this includes both private and company car buyers.

“Extending consumer incentives and Benefit-in-Kind support, along with investment in charging infrastructure will build consumer and business confidence and encourage uptake,” said Cooke.

‘Government taking foot off the gas’

Shane O’Donoghue is the editor of Complete Car, a leading Irish website for car news and reviews.

He told The Journal that he can see both sides of the argument when it comes to the Government supporting the move to EVs.

“As a country that wants to meet climate goals, and if we’ve decided that electric cars are part of that, then we need to do more to encourage this because the incentives we have at the moment aren’t enough,” said O’Donoghue.

He pointed to the Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant as an example of this – it was previously worth €600 and has since been reduced to €300.

O’Donoghue also noted that EVs no longer receive a toll discount and that an EV purchase grant has been reduced from a maximum of €5,000 to €3,500.

“It feels like the government is taking their foot off the gas in terms of grants,” said O’Donoghue.

However, he added that the other side to the argument is that the “country can only afford to spend so much money on incentivising people buying new cars”.

And while O’Donoghue remarked that the public charging network isn’t good enough, he said most people will be charging their EV at home or work, which is much cheaper than the public network.

However, O’Donoghue said he wouldn’t buy an EV at this moment if he had to rely on public charging networks and didn’t have home charging.

The government recently set out plans to have EV chargers installed every 60km on major roads as part of National Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy 2022-2025.

However, O’Donoghue said negative media around the price of an EV battery is perhaps one of the leading causes for the downturn in EV sales.

“The negative publicity around EV battery life was quite strong at the start of this year and there’s no doubt that very public discussion had an effect on buyer’s decisions,” said O’Donoghue.

O’Donoghue added that there is “hardly ever a need to replace the battery”.

While a complete battery replacement could cost up between €10,000 and €20,000, most EV batteries last for up to 150,000 miles and a recent study of 15,000 EVs showed that just 1.5% have required a new battery.

Despite this, O’Donoghue said this “negativity preyed on people’s doubts of moving from a diesel or petrol or hybrid to an electric”.

O’Donoghue also pointed to a recent drop in the resale values of second-hand electric cars as a reason for slumping sales.

Leading EV manufacturer Tesla cut the prices of some of its new models in several major markets, which had a knock-on effect on the price of used EVs.

However, O’Donoghue said prices have stabilised somewhat since and will continue to do so into the future.