DESPITE THE fanfare surrounding the introduction of electric cars to Ireland, buyers have been unable to take delivery as the promised grant scheme for such cars is not in place, three months after it was due to come into effect.
The Government has set a target of having 6,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2012, but no electric cars have been registered so far this year, according to figures released yesterday by the Society for the Irish Motor Industry.
Grants of up to €5,000 were to be offered on the purchase of electric cars from January 1st, but a spokesman for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, which was given the task of implementing the scheme, said it was still awaiting ministerial direction. It added that the final decision rested with Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte.
A spokesman for the Minister said the scheme was in the final stage of preparation and attributed the delay to ensuring there were no issues with EU competition rules on State aid. “It is expected the scheme will be open for business in the very near future.”
The scheme was announced last April by then minister Eamon Ryan. In December, while signing a memorandum of understanding between the Government, the ESB and two other car firms preparing to launch electric vehicles in Ireland. Mr Ryan reiterated that the grants would be available from the start of this year.
Yesterday he said the initial delay was “normal enough” but that it was his understanding that the scheme was ready to be introduced once the vehicles started to arrive.
Paul O’Sullivan, marketing director for Nissan Ireland, said it already had 400 orders for its all-electric Leaf model, with 58 cars in the State awaiting delivery. However, it had been unable to release these cars until the pricing structure was guaranteed. The Leaf has a list price of €34,995, but with the grant in place this should fall to €29,995.
The authority said it could not guarantee retrospective payment of the grants if cars were registered before the scheme was operational.
Ireland was intended to be one of the first countries in Europe to have the latest electric cars on the road. One Leaf was sold to a customer in Kerry last month, the first to be delivered in Europe, but Nissan said it had still not been formally registered.
The company also has several demonstrator models with dealers.
Mitsubishi, which supplied 15 of its i-MiEV electric cars to the ESB last year, said it had not started customer sales as yet, so was unaware of the problem with the grant system.
Meanwhile, despite an ESB commitment to introduce 1,500 public charging points by the end of the year, just 40 have been installed.