New figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show electric vehicle (EV) sales had a record-breaking month in January.
SIMI said a total of 79 EVs were registered in Donegal last month, a 33.9% increase when compared to the 59 registered the same month last year.
The figures also show that new car registrations for January were up 9.15% to 835 compared to the 765 cars registered in the county in January of last year.
Nationally, a total of 4,925 EVs were registered in January, a 20% increase on the 4,093 EVs registered the same month last year.
They also show that new car registrations for the country for January were up 7% to 33,521 compared to the 31,407 cars registered in January of last year.
“In particular, Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) sales surged in January, with 4,925 registrations, up 20% on the same period last year, the highest monthly total number of EVs sold, although their overall market share of 15% has yet to reach 2023 levels (19%),” Mr Cooke said.
“The underlying EV market continues to be dependent heavily on private sales which benefit from SEAI grant support, highlighting the importance of ongoing Government incentives to help stimulate the market,” he said.
“However, while there is cautious optimism over the trajectory of EV sales, one good month of sales does not necessarily define the whole year, and we still have a long way to go in the transition to electrification,” he cautioned.
He said the supply of EVs is there, with more newer EV models coming on stream across a range of price-points, so the focus must be clearly on supporting demand in what is still a relatively new market.
Today’s SIMI figures show that the ten top selling new car brands so far this year were Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Skoda, Kia, Peugeot, Nissan, Ford, Dacia and Audi.
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