Electric vehicles account for 20% of new licensed cars in February 2022 - CSO

Over 20% of all new cars licensed in Ireland in February 2022 were electric and plug-in hybrids vehicles. 

That's according to the latest report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which showed the number of new electric cars in the country almost trebled from 1,309 in the first two months of 2021 to 3,642 over the same two months in 2022. 

A total of 13,643 cars were licensed for the first time in February compared with 11,672 in the same month year-on-year. 

This marks a rise of 17% between 2021 and 2022.  

The report - which acquires figures from the Department of Transport - revealed 1,971 new vehicles were licensed in February alone. 

Over seven thousand new cars licensed in January and February 2022 were diesel compared with 10,306 during the same period last year. 

However, the number of used cars was almost half (49%) of those licensed in the first two months of 2021.