Society of the Irish Motor Industry (Simi) director general Brian Cooke has said he is disappointed with the level of electric vehicle sales in the State. He noted that people had concerns over the cost of the the vehicles and the possible limits to their driving range.

Only 1,259 new electric cars were registered in August which compares to 1,782 in the same month last year, a 29.3 per cent drop.

Sales of electric vehicles are down 25.3 per cent compared to the same period last year, falling from 20,266 to 15,129, latest Simi figures show.

Overall registrations overall for new cars decreased 8.4 per cent in August compared to the same period last year, according to the the data. Registrations last month dropped to 7,567 from 8,261 compared to the same period last year. Mr Cooke said August was the sixth consecutive month of falling car registrations in the State.

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Car registrations are also down 0.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In advance of the upcoming budget, Mr Cooke said an extension to benefit-in-kind incentives for EV products should be considered , grants for purchasing electric vehicles should return to 2022 levels until the EV market recovers and more charging infrastructure should be established.

Every county across the State has seen a decrease in EV sales with the largest percentage change in Cavan, dropping 52.38 per cent, according to Simi.

More than 50 per cent of the electric vehicles registered so far this year were in Dublin with only 0.2 per cent in Leitrim and 0.3 per cent in Longford.

Petrol engines continue to be the most popular this year so far with 31.37 per cent of the market. Diesels are second at 23.06 per cent while hybrids stand at 20.94 per cent. Electric vehicles and plug-in electric hybrids take up 13.49 per cent and 9.57 per cent respectively.

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