New figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show that sales of electric vehicles soared by over 109% in April compared to the same time last year.
SIMI said that sales of 2,779 new electric cars (battery electric cars) were registered in April, a jump of 109.7% on the 1,335 registrations the same month last year.
So far this year, 16,779 new electric cars have been registered, a 48.5% increase compared to the same time in 2025 when 11,299 electric cars were registered, SIMI added.
In the new car market share by engine type, hybrid (petrol electric) leads at 26.67% as the most popular engine type, followed by electric 22.35%, petrol 21.25%, plug-in hybrid 14.41% and diesel 12.96%.
Today's figures show that new car registrations overall for April were up 17% to 10,184 from 8,707 the same time last year.
Registrations year to date are up 2.1% to 75,074 on the figure of 73,491 for the same time last year.
Meanwhile, imported used cars also saw a big increase last month, jumping by 43.1% to 7,510 from 5,248 in April of last year. Year to date imports are up 40.1% to 31,154 from 22,235 in 2025, SIMI added.
SIMI said today that the five top selling new car brands in April were Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai and Kia.
The five top new car models were the Toyota Yaris Cross, the Hyundai Tucson, the Kia Sportage, the Skoda Kodiaq and the Toyota Corolla.
Meanwhile the five top selling new EV brands with Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia, BYD and Skoda.
The five top selling new EV models were the Volkswagen ID.4, the Kia EV3, the Hyundai Inster, the Skoda Enyaq 5 and the Skoda Elroq.
The top selling new car in April was the Toyota RAV 4, while the top selling new electric car was the Skoda Enyaq.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, said the strong performance in battery electric cars (BEV) sales is driven by private consumers, who account for 77% of sales, with this sector of the market being supported by strong Government incentives.
But he noted that BEV's new car market share of 22% is still below the level required to meet national climate targets.
"The momentum behind the EV project is there, and we must build on this. Now is not the time to reduce supports," Mr Cooke cautioned.
"The Government must maintain and extend current incentives for consumers and businesses while investing in infrastructure, along with a range of targeted measures to encourage widespread EV adoption before 2030," he added.
