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<\/p>\nSales of electric vehicles, or EVs, are rising in Ireland, leading many people to seriously question the future of their diesel and petrol-powered vehicles, even in rural Ireland.<\/p>\n
With the backdrop of what seems like a never-ending fuel price crisis, better EV technology\/range and improving infrastructure and grants, more people are opting to get plugged in.<\/p>\n
In August, it was confirmed that more than 9,600 new electric vehicles (EVs) were registered the previous month, the highest monthly figure ever recorded, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).<\/p>\n
Over the first seven months of this year, 29,840 new electric cars were registered \u2013 a 61% increase on the same time in 2025.<\/p>\n
Mayo native Derek Reilly, content and PR director at Nevo, says the main driver in interest is the high price of fuel and the fluctuations and volatility associated with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see it immediately \u2013 when the price goes up at the pump \u2013 the traffic goes up on nevo.ie,\u201d he remarks, adding that running costs of an electric vehicle are around 25% of a petrol or diesel.<\/p>\n
Back in 2018, he drove his first EV, a BMW i3 GoCar that was rented by the hour and bought an electric car a year later.<\/p>\n
Writing for a technology website at the time, Derek also started doing reviews of electric vehicles. This in turn led to him launching a YouTube channel as a \u201cpandemic hobby\u201d, and over 950 videos later, it boasts close to 100,000 followers and 3.5m views per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I find is that the people who come to the channel (@NevoEVReview) are just about to buy, and they want to reduce the number of times they have to go to the showroom.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Derek Reilly, content and PR director at Nevo.<\/p>\n
The big change since he bought his first EV is increased range. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re getting an average of 450km now with an average electric vehicle. The world record now is about 1,200km.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m living in north Co Dublin and I\u2019m from Belmullet in Co Mayo. Coast to coast, you can\u2019t get much further if you want to drive \u2013 that\u2019s 320km. What\u2019s happening regularly is that I\u2019m landing home with 100km to spare,\u201d he explains. <\/p>\n
Here are Derek\u2019s top considerations before you go electric.<\/p>\n
Charging<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing to think about, whether you are living in rural or urban Ireland, is where you are going to charge the car. This is where rural Ireland will win because the vast majority of people have somewhere to park the car and be able to put in a charger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are finding is that people are able to put up solar panels on farmhouses and outbuildings, and there are grants for that. If the car is parked during the day, it can be charged with solar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s overnight, it can be plugged in and you can use an EV tariff at an overnight rate to charge up that car much cheaper than petrol or diesel. Between \u20ac2 and \u20ac3 will get you 100km range.\u201d<\/p>\n
Range needs<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat actual range do you need? That\u2019s the difference between urban and rural. For me, living in a more urban environment, I don\u2019t do a lot of miles during the day, but if I was living in Belmullet, I might be doing 100km a day easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every car will have a standardised range figure, or what\u2019s called a WLTP, according to Derek, but each dealer will know the \u201creal-world range for Ireland\u201d, taking account of our weather and type of driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cA car is advertised as having a 500km range, but the real-world range on it is 400km, and you know you only need 200km. An EV is going to be no problem to you. It\u2019s about knowing what range you need for 99% of the days.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledges there will be days you have to travel from Belmullet to Donegal, but because the charging infrastructure is so much better, you\u2019re \u201cbuying a car for the everyday rather than the once-off\u201d.<\/p>\n
Towing capacity<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a rural environment I get a lot more questions \u2013 can it tow? What\u2019s the weight capacity? Is there a 4×4 option? It\u2019s about researching whether you need those types of functionality. If you\u2019re living on the top of a hill, you need a 4×4 because in the winter you\u2019ve got icy roads, etc. Yes, you can get some models in 4×4, and there are more vehicles that have the capability for towing as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Total cost of ownership <\/p>\n
Sit down and crunch the numbers. While an electric vehicle may cost more than it\u2019s diesel counterpart, Derek advises to do your homework and look at the entire outgoings of the car purchase. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s understanding that you might be paying \u20ac200 a month on diesel currently, but OK, if I went electric, I\u2019m paying a bit more for a car, but I\u2019m actually saving on the running costs overall. It\u2019s not just the diesel; it\u2019s the servicing. It\u2019s that total cost of ownership. It\u2019s much cheaper to service, with less servicing required, much less on parts versus a combustion engine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keep it local<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow what is local to you, and if something goes wrong, can you get it to a local dealer? Appreciate the value of that local network,\u201d advises Derek.<\/p>\n
A useful comparison tool on nevo.ie or on seai.ie allows consumers to compare vehicle costs, range, grant eligibility and journey planners.<\/p>\n
The Nevo Electric Vehicle Show takes place on 7 and 8 November in the RDS, Dublin. Free admission. See nevo.ie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sales of electric vehicles, or EVs, are rising in Ireland, leading many people to seriously question the future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1312,272243,206192,597,176,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-641213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-consumer","tag-deirdre-verney","tag-electric-car","tag-ev","tag-finance","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641213","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=641213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}