DUBLIN, Mar 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Electric vehicles (EVs), accounted for more than one-fifth of all new cars sold in Ireland in Feb, up nearly 123 percent year-on-year, according to the figures released by the country’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), yesterday.
In Feb, 2,861 EVs, including 1,829 electric-only vehicles, and 1,032 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), were sold in Ireland, accounting for 20.97 percent of all the new cars sold in the country.
A total of 13,643 new cars were sold in Ireland in Feb, up 16.9 percent year-on-year. The growth was mainly driven by the sales of EVs and hybrid vehicles.
In Feb, 2,930 hybrid vehicles were sold in Ireland, up 28.96 percent year-on-year, and the country’s EV sales increased by 122.64 percent when compared with the Feb, 2021, figure of 1,285.
The sales growth rate of electric-only vehicles was even stronger, up nearly 221 percent to 1,829 in Feb, 2022, from 570 in Feb, 2021.
In contrast, sales of fossil fuel vehicles in the country declined by 5.89 percent to 7,637 in Feb.
Of all the fossil fuel vehicles sold in Feb, petrol vehicles accounted for 3,544, down 1.82 percent over a year ago, and diesel vehicles accounted for 4,093, down 9.14 percent on an annual basis.
Late last year, the Irish government unveiled a plan, aiming to increase the number of EVs in the country to 945,000 in 2030, from the current 45,000 or so. Ireland also plans to ban the sales of fossil fuel vehicles in 2030, and the use of such vehicles in 2045.– NNN-AGENCIES