Electric vehicle car registrations soar in County Clare in 2022

NEW CAR registrations in Clare for 2022 suffered a marginal defeat, a new study has shown.

Nationally, there were 105,253 new cars registered in 2022 compared to 104,932 for the same period in 2021 (-0.3%) and 117,109 in 2019 (-10.1%).

There were a total of 2,110 cars registered in the county for the year, marking a 0.24% decrease (2,115) units when compared to 2021. 

Out of these total registration, 250 electric vehicles were registered in the Banner county in 2022, marking a 56% increase on the previous year (160 units).

Passenger dies on flight diverted to Shannon Airport

The stats reflect a changing marketplace in 2022. Petrol accounted for 30.16%, Diesel 26.77%, Hybrid 19.29%, Electric 14.90%, and Plug-In Hybrid 6.76%.

Petrol remains the most popular engine type for 2022, despite a decline in its market share last year (32.16%) while hybrid, electric and plug-in hybrid continued to gain market share in 2022 and now account for 41% of the market.  

The hatchback continues to remain Ireland’s top selling car body type of 2022. While grey is the top selling colour and has continued to keep that title now for the past seven years.

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General commented: "Like the last two years, we again are expecting further growth in electric vehicles sales this year, however the extent of this growth will be determined not only by supply but also Government support in the EV project, both in terms of extending the current EV grant support and supporting investment in the national charging infrastructure.

"The combination of Government support and Industry investment is essential if we want to create an active used EV market in as short a timeframe as possible.

"We have a huge challenge in reaching emission reduction targets over the next decade and this can only be achieved with the right economic and taxation environment that support the sale of new low and zero emissions vehicles."