Sales of electric cars jumped 81% in 2022

The number of electric cars registered for the first time rose sharply in 2022, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed, with hybrid sales also soaring.

Electric car sales rose 81 per cent year-on-year, with a total of 15,462 new cars licensed for the first time in 2022, just over 15 per cent of the total number of new cars registered. More consumers opted for electric and petrol hybrid cars too, with almost 20,000 registered for the first time across both categories. Diesel and electric plug-in hybrids recorded almost 7,500 new registrations.

Petrol and diesel engine vehicles remained dominant though, with 30,627 petrol cars registered for the first time, alongside 27,188 new diesel private cars. However, the latter category has shown some signs of faltering popularity, with new registrations of diesel cars falling more than 20 per cent year-on-year and declining to 27 per cent of the total, compared with 34 per cent the previous year. Petrol car registrations were down more than 6 per cent year-on-year.

Overall, there was a slight decrease in the total number of new cars licensed in 2022, at 101,349 compared with 101,853 in 2021. The market has been hampered by supply shortages, particularly in chips, which has led to longer lead times for vehicles and shorter supplies.

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The used car market also tapered off last year, falling 32 per cent compared to 2021, when 68,042 vehicles were licensed for the first time. Used imported diesel vehicles saw a marked decline, falling 55 per cent year-on-year.

The most popular make of new private car registered last year was Toyota, with Hyundai, Volkswagen and Kia following. The Hyundai Tucson was the most popular car model, data showed, followed by the Toyota Yaris.

“Of new electric cars licensed in 2022, the top make and model was Volkswagen ID. 4, followed by Hyundai Ioniq, and Tesla Model 3,” said Nele van der Wielen, statistician in the transport section of the CSO.

On a monthly basis the number of new cars licensed in December 2022 rose by 4 per cent, or an additional 34 cars, year-on-year.

The CSO data comes days after The Irish Times reported that electric and hybrid cars accounted for 42.4 per cent of all new car sales in 2022, outselling either petrol or diesel rivals.

Despite the growth, the market is suffering from global supply issues due to semiconductor shortages, which are impacting on the production of new cars and leading to significant delivery delays for many new models.

In December the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, said the Government is “on track” to reach its target of having 950,000 electric vehicles by the end of the decade. According to the Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics, on December 31st, 2021, there were 23,333 all-electric vehicles on the Irish fleet.

Ongoing supply issues are impacting on the increase in EV sales. An average mid-sized new car – particularly an advanced all-electric model – can require more than 1,000 computer chips, but chipmakers have warned the continuing supply issues are unlikely to abate this year.

The continuing supply shortage impacted on the car rental market, with hire-drive registrations in 2022 down 40 per cent to 4,851 compared to the previous year. The car rental market now accounts for just 4.6 per cent of new registrations. Before Covid and the chip shortages, in 2019 hire-drive registrations were 18,352, equivalent to 15.7 per cent of the new car market that year.