New figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal a 25% slow down in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in the first eight months of 2024 when compared with the same time last year.
The number of new electric cars licensed fell to 14,333 in the eight months to August compared to 19,021 the same time last year.
The CSO noted growth in the licensing of petrol and electric hybrid vehicles over the same time with the number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed rising by 31% from 16,239 in the first eight months of 2023 to 21,351 the same time this year.
In the first eight months of 2024, 33,267 new cars licensed were petrol compared with 34,445 in the same period of 2023, a fall of 3%.
Comparing the same eight-month periods in 2023 and 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed rose by 6% from 22,484 to 23,753.
Today's CSO figures show that the total number of new private cars licensed in the first eight months of 2024 was 1% higher than in the same period in 2023 - 103,511 cars compared to 102,600.
Meanwhile, the number of used (imported) cars licensed increased by 26% to 42,161 from 33,359 over the same time.
Today's figures show that the total number of new private cars licensed in August fell by 18% to 9,280 from 11,328 the same month last year, the CSO added.
The CSO said that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in August, followed by Volkswagen, Kia, Skoda and Hyundai.
Together, these five makes represented 53% of all new private cars licensed in August.
The most popular brand of new electric car licensed last month was the Tesla Model 3, followed by the Volkswagen ID.4 and the Tesla Model Y.
