Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the first- and full-year costs of reinstating the grant rate of €5,000 for the purchase of EVs. [42196/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government has committed significant funding to support zero and low emitting vehicles through the National Development Plan, which currently includes an allocation of almost €500 million for the period 2021-2025 and additional support from the Climate Action Fund, the Shared Island Fund and the EU Just Transition Fund.

€115.8m has been allocated in 2024 to ensure the continued transition to electric vehicles which includes funding for EV grants and EV charging infrastructure.

Based on 2023 sales, and accounting for the downturn in sales that has been seen in 2024 figures to date, projections for current spend to the end of this year with the current grant rate of €3,500 are €45,905,299.

If the grant rate of €5,000 was to be reinstated, based on the 2024 projections, the spend for 2024 would be €65,578,998.

If the grant was to be increased to €5,000, the extra €19,673,699 of spend would be diverted from other schemes that are in place to improve the charging infrastructure around the country. In line with International best practice, the focus of government funding has transitioned from vehicle spending to charging infrastructure.

There are still a number of incentives, other than the purchase grant of up to €3,500 off the price of a new battery electric vehicle (BEV), that are aimed at increasing the uptake of BEVs, including:

• A Home Charger purchase grant scheme - up to €300;
• VRT relief of up to €5,000 for the purchase of BEVs;
• Benefit-in-Kind tax relief for battery electric vehicles;
• eSPSV grant scheme – a generous grant for taxi drivers to make the switch to Wheelchair Accessible EV’s of up to €25,000;
• ZEHDV grant scheme – a grant scheme for HDVs to bridge the gap between a low emission vehicle and a fossil fuel vehicle; and
• Low rate of annual motor tax;