Electric and hybrid cars account for 35 percent new car sales in Ireland

More than 35 percent of new cars sold in Ireland in July consisted of electric and hybrid vehicles, showing an increase of 15 percent compared with a year ago.

A total of 7,092 electric and hybrid cars in Ireland were sold in July, accounting for 35.05 percent of the 20,232 new cars sold in that month, according to the figures provided by the country’s Central Statistics Office.

In July 2020, combined sales of electric and hybrid cars reached 3,060, representing less than 20 percent of the 15,329 new cars sold.

In the first seven months of this year, 26,180 electric and hybrid cars were sold in the country, accounting for 32.7 percent of all new cars sold. In the same period of 2020, sales of electric and hybrid cars were just 12,243, accounting for 18.97 percent of all new car sales.

A total of 80,055 new cars were sold in the country in the first seven months of this year, showing an increase of 24.09 percent when compared with the 64,513 new cars sold in the same period of last year.

The rapid increase in sales of electric and hybrid cars in the country shows that it is making good progress in its drive to achieve carbon-neutral status by 2050.

Last year, Ireland discussed of banning the sale of new fossil fuel cars from 2030 onwards, and stop granting National Car Tests (NCT) certificates for petrol and diesel vehicles from 2045.