New figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal a 38% increase in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in February of this year compared with the same month last year.
The CSO said the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in February rose to 2,853 from 2,067 in February last year.
It also reported growth in the licensing of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) which jumped by 65% from 1,321 in February of 2024 to 2,179 vehicles in February 2025.
The CSO said this means the share of EVs among new private cars increased to 20% in February compared with 15% in the same month in 2024.
Today's figures also show that during the first two months of 2025, the 9,593 new cars that were licensed were petrol compared with 10,121 during the same time in 2024, a fall of 5%.
The number of new diesel cars licensed fell by 22% to 6,079 from 7,774, they also reveal.
Overall, the total number of new private cars licensed in February 2025 grew by 3% compared to the same month in 2024 - climbing to 14,394 from 13,979.
The number of used (imported) cars licensed also increased by 9% to 5,454 from 4,994 over the same period, the CSO added.
Today's CSO figures show that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in February with 2,024 vehicles sold, followed by Hyundai (1,481), Volkswagen (1,363), Kia (1,323), and Skoda (1,083).
The CSO said that these five makes represented 51% of all new private cars licensed in February.
Meanwhile, the most popular brand of new electric car licensed in February was the Tesla Model 3 (313), followed by the Volkswagen ID.4 (248) and the Kia EV 3 (192).
