Report Electrifying! The car world has gone battery mad. Here are some of the latest


developments. Are you or the world ready for an electric car revolution? Words: Shane O’ Donoghue


Mercedes all-electric EQC SUV


T


he average age of a car in Ireland changes at seemingly glacial speed. According to Cartell.ie (the vehicle


history and data expert), the fi gure at the time of writing is approximately 8.5 years. Assuming the government doesn’t do anything drastic to get older cars off the road (and by drastic, I mean ‘expensive’), it’s likely that, in nine years from now, in 2028, the average car on Irish roads will be a 2018 Hyundai Tucson. Powered by a diesel engine. While I’ll admit that such a presumption relies on fi nger-in- the-air statistics (and last year’s new car sales fi gures), it’s worth bearing in mind when you listen to the government’s soundbites on the future of motoring in Ireland. In short, there is no practical and economic way for the country to switch, en masse, to electric power in less than, say, two decades. Norway is in the midst of such a revolution, but it has done so by ploughing millions of Krone into the plan – millions that the Irish economy and political system just do not have to play with.


10 Auto Ireland 2019


I realise that the motoring landscape is


changing quickly in Ireland, but there’s a long way to go yet. In 2018, for example, while sales of pure electric vehicles (EVs) jumped an astounding 97 per cent in Ireland, that represents only a few hundred cars, and EVs still accounted for only one per cent of total new car sales in the country. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) gained popularity in big percentage terms, too, but they made up even less of the total market than EVs. One to watch for sure, though, is petrol-electric


Toyota Corolla Hybrid


hybrids of the non-plug-in kind. Toyota calls these ‘self-charging’ hybrids and while they made up only about six per cent of total new car sales in 2018, the company has several strong new models arriving in 2019 using this technology that are certain to increase that percentage considerably. All of this data indicates that buyers have


yet to fully commit to the electrifi cation of the car in Ireland. I predict that diesel will take less of the market in 2019 than before, but it will be a slow decline in demand, as the fuel


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