Switching to electric cars makes economic, as well as environmental, sense, there is no vehicle registration tax to be paid on such cars, no carbon emissions, and they are cheaper to run.
This is the view of Green senator Niall Ó Brolcháin, who has welcomed the €5,000 incentive to encourage drivers to switch to electric cars.
The grant was announced on Tuesday by Green Party Energy Minister Eamon Ryan, along with a plan by the ESB to roll out 3,500 charge points nationwide. Sen Ó Brolcháin said the grant is a “great incentive” to encourage drivers to switch to electric cars.
“We need to become self-reliant and move away from the import of oil,” said Sen Ó Brolcháin. “The target is for 10 per cent of Ireland’s vehicles to be electric by 2020. An agreement with Nissan-Renault will see 2,000 cars on Irish roads by 2011.”
Under the agreement, ESB will roll out 3,500 charge points nationwide by December 2011. The rollout has already begun in Dublin and charging points will also be installed in Galway, Cork, Waterford, and Limerick.
“Ireland will be one of the first countries in the world to have a nationwide electric charging network which will offer opportunities for enterprise and job creation,” said ESB chief executive Padraig McManus, “as well as the obvious environmental benefits of ultimately having a decarbonised transport fleet.”
