The growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles continued last month as sales rose 12 per cent and 35 per cent respectively compared with the same period last year, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
The number of new private cars licensed in May fell by 16 per cent from 10,055 to 8,403 but there was a 10 per cent jump in the number of used cars licensed – from 5,592 to 6,144 – over the same period.
A total of 1,382 EVs were licensed in May, up 12 per cent from 1,234 last year. This means the share of EVs among new private cars from January to May was 16 per cent compared with 13 per cent in the same period of last year.
The number of new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles licensed grew by 35 per cent from 1,055 to 1,419.
Over the first five months of the year, the number of new electric cars licensed has increased 26 per cent from 9,458 to 11,877, while the number of new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles licensed increased by 74 per cent, from 6,300 to 10,988 over the same period.
This increased the year-to-date share of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles among new private cars to 15 per cent from 9 per cent.
The combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed between January and May has fallen to 44 per cent from 56 per cent at the same time last year.
Some 19,717 new cars licensed so far this year have been petrol compared with 24,009 in the same period of 2024, a fall of 18 per cent. On the same basis, the number of new diesel cars licensed fell by 26 per cent to 12,485 from 16,772.
Volkswagen was the most popular make of new private car licensed in May at 1,405 vehicles, followed by Toyota (1,020), Hyundai (701), Kia (675) and Skoda (674). Together, these five makes represented more than half (53 per cent) of all new private cars licensed in the month.
