New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that new private electric cars licensed for the first time in September grew by 54% on the same time last year.
The CSO said that 3,074 new private electric cars were licensed in September compared with 2,000 for the same month in 2025.
Today’s figures show that licensing of hybrid vehicles decreased by 2% from 1,217 in September last year to 1,197 new private cars in September of this year.
But the number of new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) licensed grew by 24% with 1,296 such vehicles licensed last month compared to 1,045 the same time last year.
The CSO said the share of electric vehicles among new private cars from January to September rose to 28% compared with 19% for the same time in 2025.
It added that the combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed so far this year fell to 31% from 43% in 2025.
Meanwhile, the total number of new private cars licensed in September grew by 9% compared to the same time last year, rising to 7,326 from 6,723.
The number of used (imported) cars licensed rose by 18% to 8,013 in September from 6,770 in September 2025.
The CSO noted that the share of EVs among used cars from January to September stood at 11% compared with 5% the same time of last year.
Today’s figures show that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in September at 887 vehicles, followed by Volkswagen (812), Tesla (736), Skoda (591) and Kia (533).
Together, these five makes represented 49% of all new private cars licensed last month, the CSO said.
The most popular model of new electric car licensed was the Tesla Model 3 (454), followed by the Tesla Model Y (282) and the MG MG4 (214).
