New figures from the Central Statistics Office show the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in January rose by 20% to 3,386 from 2,829 in January of last year.
The CSO said that 15% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 14% in the same period in 2024.
Today’s CSO figures also reveal that the number of new plug-in hybrid private cars licensed for the first time in January 2025 increased by 100% when compared with the same month in 2024 – rising to 3,427 from 1,712.
Overall, the total number of new private cars licensed in January grew by 8% when compared with the same month last year – rising to 22,484 from 20,861.
Meanwhile, the number of used (imported) cars licensed increased by 5% to 4,826 from 4,600 over the same time.
The CSO said that 3,670 new cars licensed were diesel in January, compared with 4,337 the same time in 2024, a fall of 15%. The number of new petrol cars licensed fell by 3% over the same time – to 5,929 from 6,119.
Today’s figures show that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in January 2025, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Skoda and Kia.
Together, these five makes represented 54% of all new private cars licensed in January.
The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in January 2025 was the Volkswagen ID.4, followed by the Kia EV3 and the Hyundai Kona.
