24% of new private cars licensed this year were electric

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show a 118% jump in the number of new private electric cars licensed for the first time in May, while 24% of all new private cars licensed between January and May were electric.

The CSO said a total of 3,010 new private electric cars were licensed for the first time in May, up from 1,382 the same month last year.

The CSO also reported an increase in the licensing of hybrid vehicles, which rose by 55% from 1,763 in May last year to 2,727 new private cars in May of this year.

Today’s figures show that the total number of new private cars licensed in May rose by 32% when compared with May last year, with the figure rising to 11,063 from 8,403.

The total number of used (imported) private cars licensed increased by 22% to 7,519 from 6,144 the same time last year.

For the first five months of 2026, the CSO reported a 52% rise in new private EVs licensed when compared with the same time last year – with the figure rising to 18,041 from 11,877.

Over the same five-month period, there was a fall of 19% in the number of new petrol cars licensed with the number of such vehicles falling to 15,952 from 19,717.

The CSO also saw a 22% slowdown in the number of new diesel cars licensed over the same time, with the number of cars decreasing to 9,749 from 12,485.

Meanwhile, the total number of new goods vehicles licensed for the first time in May was 3,135, down 9% on May 2025’s figure of 3,453.

A total of 17,147 new goods vehicles were licensed from January to May – an increase of 12% on the 15,312 licensed over the same time last year.

According to the CSO, Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in May with 2,011 vehicles registered, followed by Volkswagen (1,679), Skoda (1,483), Kia (621) and Hyundai (604). Together, these five makes represented 58% of all new private cars licensed during the month.

The most popular brand of new electric car licensed last month was the Volkswagen ID.4 (341), followed by the Skoda Enyaq (182) and the Skoda Elroq (175).