Electric cars accounted for about 15 per cent of all new cars licensed for the first time in the first two months of 2023, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show, while the number of new electric cars licensed has climbed 26 per cent year-on-year.
The number of new electric cars licensed increased to 4,583 for the first two months in 2023, up from 3,642 in the same period last year.
Electric cars’ share of new cars licensed arrived at 15.4 per cent in February, nudging up slightly from 15.1 per cent in January. This compares with a 12 per cent rate for the first two months of last year, although the share exceeded 15 per cent for 2022 as a whole.
The number of new electric cars licensed surged 81 per cent last year.
“Today’s figures from the CSO show the continued growth in the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles licensed in Ireland,” said Nele van der Wielen, statistician in the CSO’s transport section.
In January and February of 2023, 10,525 new cars licensed were petrol cars compared with 7,886 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 10 per cent. New diesel cars licensed have fallen 10 per cent over the same time frame.
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Some 22 per cent of new private cars licensed in the first two months of 2023 were diesel compared with almost a quarter – 24 per cent – in the same period in 2022.
Overall, there were 13,284 new cars licensed in February 2023, down by 359, or 3 per cent, compared with February 2022, the CSO said.
The number of used cars licensed in the first two months arrived at 7,348, down 4 per cent on the same period in 2022. Within this, 2,788 used (imported) diesel private cars were licensed in January and February, down 10.8 per cent year-on-year.
Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in February 2023, accounting for 1,801 vehicles. The brand was closely followed by Hyundai, which accounted for 1,762 new licenses, with Volkswagen on 1,250, Kia on 1,061, and Skoda on 866. These five represented 51 per cent of all new private cars licensed last month.
