When it comes to making the switch, it’s a matter of when rather than if drivers plug into the reality of electric vehicles. Tax on fossil fuel is only going one way, and it’s the same with motor tax on high emissions vehicles. The planet is getting hotter, leading to extreme weather and food supply issues – emissions from petrol and diesel cars are part of the problem.
The Irish Government is targeting 945,000 zero-emissions vehicles on our roads by 2030. That’s a big leap from 125,000 electric vehicles driving around right now. The target means there is going to have to be more carrots and sticks, and fast, to nudge car owners to do the right thing. October’s budget may reveal some of them. If you’re considering the switch, you should of course analyse your driving patterns and the related charging network, but here’s what going electric can mean for your pocket.
Is there a grant for switching?
With ambitious targets for electric vehicle adoption, it’s hard to understand why the Government reduced its grant for them just last year. Until then, a grant of €5,000 was available for the purchase of a new battery electric vehicle. That dropped to a maximum of €3,500 in July 2023.
Critics say the reduced grant could account for some of the fall-off in new EV sales this year. Just 12,765 EVs were licensed in Ireland between January and July, a decline of nearly 25 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures.
That maximum €3,500 amount isn’t available for every electric vehicle either, only for those costing €18,000 to €60,000. If you are buying an EV costing €14,000 to €15,000, the grant falls to €1,500.
The dealer will apply for the grant for you, and then deduct the grant amount from the total price of your car.
The top three selling EVs in Ireland in July this year were the Volkswagen ID. 4, the Kia EV6 and the Tesla Y, according to the Irish Electric Vehicle Association. These models sell from between €45,000 and €50,000. For those buying a new car in that price range, a €3,500 grant is unlikely to be the deciding factor.
The Hyundai Kona, which accounted for about 5 per cent of EV sales to July this year, costs from about €33,000. The Nissan Leaf starts from about €24,000.
The cost of new electric vehicles is edging down and there are now more cheaper options, largely in response to more competition from Chinese brands such as BYD, MG and Ora, says DoneDeal.
For those who are electric-curious, but understandably anxious about charging blind-spots and getting stranded out of range - and that’s a big consideration for families -hybrid is a good way to dip your toe in the water. Unfortunately, the grant of €2,500 for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) was removed. It seems the Government wants us to skip this waystage and go fully electric.
There are more second-hand EVs on the market now, too, and these are cheaper than ever. In the second quarter of this year, used EVs were almost 15 per cent less expensive compared with the second quarter of 2023, according to DoneDeal data.
Do your research on the health of the battery and the usable range before purchasing second-hand of course. You’ll find an eight-year-old Nissan Leaf (30kWh) for about €4,000 – useful for someone as a cheap to run, second car perhaps.
Why drive an electric vehicle?
Government grants may help to reduce new EV purchase costs, but the real savings are in running the thing. If you were told your next car could cut your transport costs by three-quarters, would that persuade you? That’s what driving an electric vehicle promises, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
Driving an EV means up to a 74 per cent reduction in transport costs versus driving a comparable new diesel engine car, says the SEAI.
Charging an electric vehicle costs much less than fuelling a similar size petrol or diesel car. You can save between 50 and 60 per cent on fuel costs, says the SEAI. You’ll see an increase in your electricity bill, but this will be offset by the complete elimination of petrol or diesel costs, it says.
Some 80 per cent of charging is being done from home, says the SEAI, and if you have a smart meter and charge at home overnight, night rate electricity means even greater savings.
When you combine an overnight low-cost Time of Use (TOU) tariff and generally efficient driving, the costs per 100km can come in at less than €1.50, says the SEAI.
There’s savings on your annual motor tax bill, too. Because motor tax is calculated on the emissions level of the vehicle, electric vehicles are at the lowest tax band. It costs just €120 per year to tax a battery electric vehicle.
If you’re considering going electric for your next car, the SEAI.ie has a useful comparator tool where you can select up to three EVs and one petrol/diesel car to compare the cost over their lifetime.
Take, for example, a new Volkswagen Golf diesel costing €35,785 and a new Volkswagen ID.3 costing €41,695, both driven on average 18,000km a year over 10 years. The SEAI tool measures the total cost of ownership as the price of the car, plus the annual energy cost, tax and maintenance, multiplied by the lifespan of the car, minus the government grant and vehicle registration tax (VRT) reduction.
The 10-year total cost of ownership for the diesel car is €58,305 while the total cost to the electric vehicle owner is €46,460, according to the tool. It’s estimated that the diesel car owner will pay €750 a year more on fuel.
As the price of new EVs drops with more players entering the market, so does the price of second-hand EVs, so this is something to factor in, too.
Charging up
There is a grant of up to €300 towards the cost of installing a home charger. The total cost for the charger and installation typically ranges from €1,200 to €1,600 before the grant is deducted.
You must have off-street parking, however, to avail of the grant and that precludes many city dwellers. Renters with off-street parking who have permission from their landlord to install the charger can avail of the grant, too.
Electric car owners who installed overhead charging arms, which project a charging cable across a footpath at a height from a post on their property, have recently come under scrutiny.
The device allows households with no driveways, who are reliant on on-street parking, to charge their EVs without trailing electrical cables across the footpath. But before you invest in one, know that such structures need permission and these devices are not authorised, says Dublin City Council.
Solutions will have to be delivered for houses with no off-street parking as well as for apartment blocks, according to Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan. These solutions include communal car charging and sharing facilities.
“We will start by looking for the local authorities to provide on-street charging and we are going to fund and support that,” he said.
For apartments, it is the management company or landlord that must apply for the grant. The SEAI provides a 60-90 per cent grant towards full installation costs based on a bulk installation of chargers at a single location.
Now that the wave of EV early adopters is over, EVs sales haveslowed, says the SIMI.
“We’re moving now into what we call the ‘early majority’, and that’s a different consumer,” says an SIMI spokesperson. “That consumer would need more assurances, you’d have to convince them more, compared to the early adopter, to make that leap because it’s a lot of money to buy a new car anyway, that’s what we would associate the decline with.” A better charging network is a big part of that assurance.
Insurance
Some insurers offer a discount for electric vehicles, but as with all cars, you’ll get the best deal by shopping around.
Insuring EVs is typically more expensive on average than non-EVs, says Aviva, but “not significantly more expensive”, a spokesperson said.
EVs are a little more expensive to repair when damaged, so accidental claims on average are higher on EVs than on petrol or diesel models, says Jennifer Kilduff of the AA. There is also a shortage of EV trained mechanics so they are not always as readily available.
Before buying a particular EV, call around for insurance quotes. Last year some Tesla Model Y owners in the UK reported difficulty in getting cover, or renewing their cover, with some insurers.
Aviva says there are various vehicles or models it does not cover, but this is not to do with whether the car is an EV, but rather the performance and power of the vehicle and the acceleration.
When shopping for a policy, inquire about cover for things like damage or theft to charging cables, damage to the home charging point and loss or damage to your charge card. With Aviva, breakdown cover extends to if you run out of battery in Ireland or the UK. They’ll either charge you up roadside or transport your vehicle to a charging point.
EV owners need to weigh up the cost of purchasing, insuring, taxing and fuelling their EV purchase, says Kilduff. “For some, the costs of motoring are reduced drastically, even if the cost of entry and insurance is slightly higher.”
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