New figures from the Central Statistics Office today reveal the continued growth in the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles licensed in Ireland.
The number of new electric cars licensed has risen by 39% from 5,388 in the first three months of 2022 to 7,513 for the first three months of 2023.
The CSO said that 16,292 new cars licensed were petrol cars in the first three months of 2023, compared with 10,981 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 48%.
But new diesel cars licensed have decreased by 5% in the same time.
Today's CSO figures show that the number of new cars licensed in March of this year increased by 33% to 15,782 from 11,872 the same month last year.
The number of used private cars licensed in March rose by 16% to 5,529 from 3,902 the same time last year.
The CSO noted that the total number of used vehicles licensed in the first three months of 2023 was up 4% compared with the same three month period in 2022.
Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in March, followed by Skoda, Volkswagen, Kia and Dacia.
Together, these five makes represent 48% of all new private cars licensed last month, the CSO said.
