‘Bar room bores’ spreading misinformation about electric cars are having a ‘dramatic impact’ on the market, according to Jonathan Healy.

Former environment minister Richard Bruton is urging the Government to double down on its support for the electric vehicle (EV) market after new figures revealed that sales are stalling in rural counties.

The Fine Gael TD is calling for rural drivers to be offered larger incentives to encourage them to go electric.

New figures, provided to Deputy Bruton under Parliamentary Question, show that Wicklow is now the electric car capital of Ireland, with EVs accounting for one-in-five sales since January 2020.

Roscommon, meanwhile, has the lowest number of EV sales, with just one-in-29 new car buyers going electric.

Dublin, Kildare and Meath also boast relatively high EV uptake, with EVs making up between one-in-six and one-in-seven sales.

The average across the country is between one-in-10 and one-in-14.

Meanwhile, new CSO figures released today show that electric car sales nationwide dropped 24% between January and July compared to the same period last year.

Electric vehicles charging at sunset at fast motorway chargers, 21-11-21. Image: Ethan Lau / Alamy

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning presenter Jonathan Healy said widespread misinformation about EVs is having a ‘devastating’ impact on sales.

“I'm convinced that this is down to barstool bores who tell people, ‘Don't get electric cars, they're useless,’” he said.

“Those types of conversations have had a dramatic impact, particularly outside of urban areas.”

"Eminent sense"

He said it makes “eminent sense” to run an electric car in rural Ireland.

“You probably have access to an outside space where you can charge, meaning you can get the cheaper rates,” he said.

“Many people in Dublin don’t, despite the fact that obviously a lot of them in Dublin do have electric cars.

“So, in rural Ireland, you can avail of really cheap rates to charge your car.

“There are issues with resale and that's down to the manufacturers not quite getting their heads around what the original value of these cars are.

“So, there are going to be people who are stung but small, cheap, affordable electrics are the way to go and for some reason, people in rural Ireland are saying no.”

Electric vehicle sales

He said the Chinese are “really upsetting the market” at the moment with Nissan and Volkswagen both planning to roll out new models so prices should soon fall.

“But very few people agree with me on this and I'm devastated that the bar room bores have the hand on this,” he said.

Jonathan said EVs are the future “whether you like it or not”, adding, “either embrace it or you become a bar room bore”.

Grants

On July 1st last year, the Government’s subsidy for EVs was reduced from €5,000 to €3,500 – and CSO data shows that this change coincided with a fall in sales.

There were just 10,747 new electric cars registered in Ireland in the first half of this year – down nearly 4,000 on last year.

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry has called for the subsidy cut to be reversed.

Meanwhile, the grant for EV home chargers was cut by 50% at the start of this year.