New figures from DoneDeal Cars show that searches for electric cars rose 40% in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same time last year, as the shift to EVs saw a move outside of Dublin.
DoneDeal Cars said the increase came on the back of a fall in searches for diesel cars, which dropped 22%.
It also noted that searches for hybrids rose 4%.
The figures are published after SIMI’s official August registration statistics showed that battery electric cars accounted for 26.3% of all new cars registered in Ireland this year, making electric the largest single engine type in the new car market for the first time.
Paddy Comyn, Head of Automotive Content and Communications at DoneDeal Cars, said the spring fuel crisis was the moment a lot of Irish drivers did the maths for the first time.
“Searches for electric cars on DoneDeal Cars nearly doubled in March and April, and while the panic has passed, they are still running well ahead of last year. Diesel searches, meanwhile, are down more than a fifth and have not come back,” he said.
He also noted that Wicklow, Kildare and Meath have the highest electric uptake in the country now, and counties like Roscommon and Cavan have more than doubled.
Galway saw the largest increase in searches for electric cars located in the county, up 67%, followed by Cork (+56%), Clare (+39%), Limerick (+35%), Kerry (+27%) and Dublin (+25%).
“The commuter belt has the driveways, the home chargers and the predictable commutes that make an electric car obviously cheaper to run, and the rest of the country is following,” he explained.
But he added that with VRT relief for electric cars due to expire at the end of December, the risk is that a market which has just found its footing outside Dublin loses momentum right when it was starting to work.
Today’s figures also show that every county in Ireland grew its electric car registrations. Roscommon led with growth of 158.7%, followed by Cavan on 105.0% growth, Clare at 103.2% and Carlow at 100.6%). Four counties more than doubled.
But Dublin was the slowest-growing county with an increase of 27.8%, and the only county below the national growth rate of 55%.
Dublin’s share of national electric registrations fell from 46.5% to 38.3%. Outside Dublin, electric registrations grew 79% year on year compared to 28% inside the capital.
