The Government has admitted its plan to have one million electric vehicles on Ireland’s roads by 2030 will be difficult to achieve.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said that currently some 15 per cent of new vehicles bought in the State are electric.
He said he expects to see that “accelerate rapidly” in the next two to three years.
As part of the Government’s Climate Action Plan, it aims to introduce 845,000 electric cars, 95,000 vans, 3,500 lorries and 1,500 buses, bringing the total number of electric vehicles on the road to 945,000.
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Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “It is a high target and to reach a million electric vehicles by 2030 is going to be something that’s difficult to achieve.
“But it’s important to say that it’s not a million electric cars. It’s not a million private electric vehicles. It’s the total number of electric vehicles.
“We might have to do better on the work vehicle vans than we do the on the private vehicle side. But that’s the target, it’s the two together.
“One thing I think we’ve all seen is that when a technology takes off, it really takes off. Think of smartphones. Very few people have them and then within a few years everyone had them.”
The State will also play its role in contributing to the number of electric vehicles, the Tánaiste said.
Mr Ryan also acknowledged it is an ambitious plan, but said the number of people buying electric vehicles is growing “faster” than people expected three years ago.
“If you measure the fuel cost over the lifetime of the vehicle and the maintenance cost, it’s a fraction of what it would be with the combustion engine,” Mr Ryan added.
He said he expects to see a “radical change” in the coming years.
“What more will we do? Firstly, the current grant systems are very generous, it’s up to €10,000,” he added.
“There are further measures introduced in the budget in terms of evolving change in the VRT system, that actually gives a further very significant incentive to switch, particularly from the larger big SUV fossil fuel vehicles towards an electric alternative.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it will review the grant system to purchase electric vehicles to “bridge” the gap between what people can afford and the purchase price of the vehicle.
Mr Martin said the Government wants to make it “a realisable prospect” for workers and the public to purchase an electric vehicle.
