Interest in electric vehicles surges as diesel falters, data from DoneDeal Cars showOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\nBut despite the recent upwards trajectory, there are still only about 235,000 full EVs in use here. Hitting that 2030 target of 845,000 still seems ambitious.<\/p>\n
Price has certainly been an obstacle to EV ownership here \u2013 and the scheme aims to help people who would be buying at the cheaper end of the spectrum. Money has been diverted away from more expensive EVs, and the maximum eligible vehicle price threshold for a grant will now be \u20ac50,000 rather than \u20ac60,000. <\/p>\n
Studies have shown that ownership, and positive attitudes towards electric cars in general, have typically been highest among the better-off. There has also been an identifiable urban-rural divide, with people outside the larger cities less willing and less able to make the leap from petrol and diesel.<\/p>\n
A joint study by Trinity College Dublin and Queen\u2019s University Belfast in 2022 found that the grant system in place at the time privileged \u201chigh-income people\u201d. Looking at where home recharging points had been installed throughout the country, it found the equity gap was most obvious in south Co Dublin.<\/p>\n
Prof Brian Caulfield, who headed up the research, calls this the \u201cgreen divide\u201d. This divide extends to solar panels and heat pumps, which are also more prevalent in the wealthier parts of the country. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe research on sales data today demonstrates that the majority of electric vehicles are being sold in affluent, urban Ireland,\u201d says Caulfield. \u201cI\u2019ve long argued that targeted measures such as those announced by the Minister could have the potential to level the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scheme is weighted towards rural areas where the take-up of EVs has traditionally lagged behind. To be administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), 65 per cent of the \u20ac10 million on offer is to be aimed at what it calls \u201crural dwellers\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe location of where these vehicles are being sold is very important,\u201d says Caulfield. \u201cOver 50 per cent of these vehicles are being sold in Cork and Dublin. People that live in urban areas tend to drive shorter distances. Therefore, those in rural parts of Ireland with limited public transport alternatives are driving longer distances and creating higher emissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur research has shown that an electric vehicle in rural Ireland could save 35 per cent more emissions due to the greater distances travelled than those electric vehicles sold in urban Ireland.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr Agnieszka Stefaniec of the University of Southampton Business School collaborated with Caulfield on his research. She welcomes the scrappage scheme but questions how effectively it can be disbursed. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am not sure how they will ensure a certain amount will go into certain areas \u2013 you can\u2019t guarantee that people will want them,\u201d she says. Nonetheless, she says the scrappage idea is a good one.<\/p>\n
The fact it will take older polluting cars off the roads is what makes it appealing, she says. It means cars will be replaced \u2013 as opposed to having wealthier households simply add another vehicle to their family fleet.<\/p>\n
She says there has been evidence to show that many EVs were being added to households that already had two cars \u201cso it was not a big risk for them to buy an EV. If something wasn\u2019t working well \u2013 a problem with charging, or the distance to be covered \u2013 they had more options or possibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it is the only car in the household, there could be some kind of worry or risk about making certain journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean that this pilot scheme \u2013 or the larger one that is widely anticipated will follow \u2013 won\u2019t be tapped by those wealthier households in the likes of south Dublin. Conefrey points out the scheme will be available to households where people are cohabiting \u2013 and older cars that have been handed down to adult children could soon be arriving on to forecourts destined for the scrap heap.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe oldest car around the yard \u2013 the one the kids have learned to drive on \u2013 is probably the car that will be traded in,\u201d he says. \u201cThe first car then becomes the hand-me-down \u2013 there are lots of little nuances there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are 50 years plus in the business here and we have seen plenty of scrappage schemes. People will find ways of getting the maximum out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may be hard to believe in 2026, but less than 20 years ago Irish motorists were being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,9638,15910,8856,61,60,49034,210518,53921,96390],"class_list":["post-489996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-darragh-o-brien","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-seat","tag-simi-society-of-the-irish-motor-industry","tag-sustainable-energy-authority-of-ireland-seai","tag-volvo-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}