New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that electric and plug-in hybrid cars made up 21% of all new cars licensed for the first time in the first quarter of this year.
Looking exclusively at electric-only cars, the CSO said the share of new electric cars licensed was more than double that of the same time in 2021 - 5,388 compared with 2,314.
Today's CSO figures show that a total of 11,872 new private cars were licensed in March, an increase of 11% on the same month last year.
They also reveal that the number of used (imported) private cars licensed decreased by 41% in March, falling to 3,902 from 6,590 in March 2021.
Toyota was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in the first quarter of 2022, followed by Hyundai, Kia, Skoda and Volkswagen.
Together these five makes represent more than half (54%) of all new private cars licensed during the three months from January to March, the CSO said.
During the first quarter of of the year, the CSO noted that 26% of new private cars licensed were diesel.
89% of new private cars licensed were in the A/B CO2 emissions bands, the CSO said.
