The recent announcement of a €1,500 reduction in the electric vehicle (EV) grant has sparked debate over the role of EVs in Ireland’s climate strategy. While EVs are not a perfect solution, they remain a crucial tool for reducing transport emissions. As we grapple with the urgent need to cut fossil fuel use, it is essential that we continue to support the electrification of transport, while also reducing overall car dependence.
The Government’s decision to reduce the EV grant later this year is not without merit. Supporting private car ownership runs counter to the goal of reducing car dependency and promoting sustainable transport modes, acknowledged in the 2023 climate action plan as necessary to meet decarbonisation commitments.
Furthermore, the grant is regressive, primarily benefiting wealthier individuals who are more likely to buy new cars. Finally, the need for EV subsidies is declining, given decreasing purchase costs. Several EVs are now on the market with a lower upfront purchase price than many popular fossil fuel models. Moreover, EV running costs are far lower and battery ranges have much improved.
Nevertheless, any slowdown in transport electrification would needlessly prolong fossil fuel use, which is untenable given the urgency the climate crisis demands. The recent IPCC Synthesis Report emphasises the need for immediate, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. While we continue to add new fossil fuel cars to our roads – nearly 90,000 last year, many that will still be emitting carbon dioxide in 2040 – we are failing to take climate action seriously.
EV deployment has reached a tipping point. Fifteen per cent of all new cars sold in Ireland in 2022 were full battery electric vehicles, with annual sales nearly doubling each year. Maintaining this exponential growth in the future would see all new cars being electrified by 2026, a target that policymakers can and should aim for.
Concerns about the true sustainability of EVs persist, but the reality is that they offer significant advantages over fossil fuel cars. They cause far lower greenhouse gas emissions, even with today’s electricity mix, which is decarbonising rapidly. They can help support the integration of large volumes of renewable wind and solar energy into the power grid with their flexible storage capabilities if paired with smart and flexible electricity tariffs. They are also far more comfortable to drive.
Mining minerals for battery components does cause environmental and social harms, which policies and scientific innovations should seek to minimise, including by incentivising smaller EVs with lighter batteries. However, these impacts must be weighed against the damage caused by mining, refining and burning the far greater volume of fossil fuels that EVs will displace. Once extracted and burned, a litre of oil is gone forever and remains as carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere for centuries, but once mined, the minerals in batteries are reused for decades and then can be recycled or repurposed.
Ireland is well suited to embrace EVs – distances are relatively short and there is high potential for home charging, given our low numbers of apartments. However, improving the public charging infrastructure remains a priority to ensure accessibility for urban residents and long-distance travellers.
While the Exchequer may be hesitant to maintain EV subsidies, we must consider the most cost-effective ways to meet our carbon budgets. Studies from UCC and others suggest that ongoing EV supports, combined with reductions in car use, will be necessary to avoid more costly measures later this decade, such as prematurely scrapping fossil fuel cars or implementing harsh travel restrictions.
The State cannot place an outright ban on new fossil fuel car sales before 2035, the year the EU has agreed to phase out new internal combustion engines. But policies can make buying new fossil fuel cars less attractive. For example, low-emissions zones in cities have been rolled out in European cities, incentivising EVs over combustion engines, leading to cleaner air. Policies can also regulate car advertising, requiring an emphasis on the total cost of ownership and lifetime carbon dioxide emissions.
Taxes penalising inefficient, high-emitting cars would also tip sales towards EVs. Reallocating the lifetime carbon tax of a vehicle to its upfront sales price would place this cost on those buying new cars, reducing the burden of climate policies on people who buy cars from the second-hand car market, a more equitable carbon tax design. Most people will not be able to afford EVs until there are more used models on the market: to do this, we need to build a robust second-hand EV market by accelerating new sales now.
EVs are not a silver bullet: walking, cycling and public transport are favourable where they are possible. But electrifying transport will play a crucial role in our climate strategy, and for the climate, the faster this is done the better.
Hannah Daly is a professor of sustainable energy at UCC