New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of new electric cars licensed has increased by 40% from 1,813 in January of last year to 2,531 in January of this year.
The CSO said the number of new cars licensed in January rose by 6% to 16,787 from 15,814 the same month last year.
15% of all new cars licensed for the first time last month were electric compared with 11% in January 2022, while one fifth of new private cars licensed in January were diesel - the same level as in January 2022.
A total of 5,819 new cars licensed last month were petrol cars, up from 4,342 the same time last year.
Today's CSO figure also reveal that the number of used cars licensed in January of this year slowed by 9% to 3,362 from a figure of 3,686 in January 2022.
Today's figures show that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in January, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Skoda and Kia.
The CSO said that these five makes represent more than half (57%) of all new private cars licensed last month.
