2024 Irish EV Sales

May was very much ‘as you were’ in March and April, EV sales down 40% year on year in each of the past 3 months. Down 22% year on year, while non EV sales are +11% in 2024.

This data below is for EV only, ‘24 v ‘23

some of the early EV marques like Ford, Honda, Mazda, Jag, etc are effectively zero sales in 2024. A narrow offering of older models in each case.

only MG and Volvo made gains, of the marques who were in the market last year. BYD the obvious big winner this year

2024 sales by model:

the large price drops on the model Y and the ID4 make the huge year on year sales drops all the more surprising perhaps.

Self unloading passenger feature, is that an optional extra 🤣

Hadn't heard about that until someone asked on a Forum and tonnes of people replied that they also had this bonus feature 😬

What a ridiculous post!
So I’m making Mr putin and the OPEC bosses happy because I don’t have the money to buy an EV that suits my usage?! Am I understanding that post correctly, because if I am it’s out of order.

something tells me I won’t be paying as much as if I had to pay for an EV that suits my needs.

We have just been through a litany of issues with batteries and other VW EV faults so there is no need for this - if the cars were better (and cheaper and stronger residuals) they would be selling more strongly

It would to be an almighty scrappage scheme. There are few cars on the road with less than 5k, and it’s an almighty hill to climb to a new car nowadays. Back in the day of the first scrappage scheme (almost 30 years ago) Renault 5s were on offer for peanuts.

So many Bravos and Puntos back then.

new car prices have risen madly over the last 6-7 years out of line with average wage. It almost feels like early 2009 in terms of housing. Are we rather seeing the start of a slow down of people buying cars at ridiculous prices they cannot really afford/getting locked into pricey finance schemes?

I think you’d be better off bringing out a warranty extension backed by the government on 2nd hand EVs to cover drivetrain, battery etc.

That would improve interest in 2nd hand EVs.

There's a new generation of cheap EVs arriving later this year and next year. I think people are holding off for them.

Maybe that partly explains drop off in sales.

Also the market segment of people who can afford a new EV is probably limited.

Also the second hand market for EVs is quite good now.

I thought the idea was to get as many people as possible into EVs for environmental reasons no?
Provide better longer warranties on used EVs and more people will be interested which keeps used EV prices higher, insulating new EV buyers from massive depreciation losses.

It is a problem if you need the range though

what are car sales like generally? Is the overall market on par with last year and it's just evs lower?

I'd imagine the percentage of Id4s on pcp isn't any higher or lower than their ice offerings to be fair.

Apropos of nothing saw a model y taxi today they must have resolved the window tint issue.

Non-EV sales in 2024 are +11%, while pure EV sales are down 22% for Jan-May, but down 40% in each of Mar/Apr/May, on lower volumes obviously

It was a similar pattern last year - July 2023 was the highest sales month of the year for EVs, so annual growth will be hard this year even if there’s a lot of delayed deliveries

yeah just as things might look to be settling down after the market adjusted from over demand under supply throughout COVID, we now have another aspect that may drive some prices back up again - great!

Maybe so but on the other hand, the consumer doesn’t want over inflated prices for cars either. Two wrongs don’t make a right here- are manufacturers willing to reduce profits? Are governments. especially Irish government, willing to reduce revenue on cars?
And what about the parts that are made in China for other car manufacturers? Might China impose an exit tax on those parts leaving China?
All that this is going to do is add to a trade war - the politicians will talk big but at the end of the day the consumer will suffer.

The range / charging mantra is grist to the mill for the media and clicks yet I think that could be flipped on its head although the Chinese tariffs have probably killed the angle.

We all know the complaining that range isn't enough - thats fine and if dropping 40k+ on a new car I can see why people see it as an issue even if I don't.

However if you could get the BYD Seagul thingy with its claimed 300kms range and Chineses USD10k price tag here and OTR in Ireland for 12-15k new then I think you would see a huge uptake. A real world range of 200kms for a cheap small car would tick most of the boxes for most people as a second run around car. For elderly people in the city and the country it would be ideal as lets face it the cars generally run around to shops and friends etc. Couple that with a proper insurance framework that didn't make insuring two cars a nightmare people could even keep their old ICE for their circuit of Ireland holiday trip or whatever.

I know that wouldn't suit everyone but it could suit those with driveways and stand alone houses. At the end of the day if the government see an increase in EV use as a critical part of their plans then who cares how you get there once you get there.

I'd even venture further and suggest that a 100/100 EV small car (AKA Fiesta Mk1 size) for sub 10k could be a game changer. BTW 100/100 would be 100kms at 100kph in wind and rain. Anyone my age will know that the Fiesta everywhere in rural Ireland in the late 70's and 80's. Cheap, ecconomical, reliable private transport.

I am not convinced about grants etc as they always seem to impact the market at some point in an unintended way. If the product is good enough and price point matches them people will see the value propoistion and change if it suits for financial reasons.

But at least we can reply with "What do you expect for the price??"