Scrappage grants will only apply to new vehicles

Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien has confirmed that the scrappage scheme to encourage motorists to switch to EVs is just for new vehicles as the new car market is "the cleanest and quickest way" to run it.

A €10m pilot scrappage scheme to encourage motorists to buy an electric vehicle was announced yesterday by the minister.

The scheme will open for applications from 1 July and will fund around 2,000 cars. Grants will be paid out on a "first come first served basis", with 65% of funding ringfenced towards more rural areas.

Under the plan, people will get a €5,000 grant for scrappage as well as the existing €3,500 grant towards purchasing an EV.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr O’Brien said: "I think it'll be popular, I hope it will be."

"We're going to fund that right the way through to the end of this Dáil term to 2030, we’ve committed capital to that already.

"I accept fully, that many people driving older cars like that are doing it because they can't afford to change their car. This will help. There's good financing options there too.

"I think this scheme has the potential to be oversubscribed actually, so if we can make progress on the first 2000, then we can assess it then and see how we move it forward."

The minister said that lead-in time into the launch on 1 July will allow people to get their finances in order before applying.

"For people who are interested in this, it does give time in that sense to get prepared and get ready and look at finance options that are there.

"I'm not going to be able to bridge the full affordability gap, but I think to be fair by looking at this, an additional €5,000, bringing it up to €8,500, is not an insignificant support."

Mr O'Brien said that more support was needed for rural charging infrastructure, and that the Government would be supporting that until the end of the decade.

"We're going to invest about €45m this year in new charging points this year alone, which will see a 30% improvement in the EV charging infrastructure that's around the country," he said.

"I got approval earlier this year in the first quarter of the national EV rollout plan, not a strategy, an actual plan for new charging points that are being rolled out and we're investing heavily in it."

The minister added that Ireland was moving toward meeting the EU average of the number of charging points available around the country, which is around 13,000. Currently, Ireland has about 4,000.

But, he said, while the infrastructure has already improved this does need to continue nationally.

Scrappage scheme 'welcome intervention'

Friends of the Earth Programme Co-ordinator Claire O'Connor has described the new EV scrappage scheme as a "welcome intervention".

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said that it was a step towards climate policy that is needed in Ireland.

"We obviously welcome any intervention by Government that will help households get off fossil fuels," she said.

"We've seen in recent months just how volatile fossil fuel prices are, and unfortunately, that volatility isn’t going anywhere.

"Transport is the second biggest source of emissions in Ireland, so it’s a really, really significant piece of the pie, and I think what's actually quite positive about this scheme is that it's targeted.

"We know that public transport in rural Ireland is really not what it needs to be right now. We know that unfortunately a lot of people in rural Ireland will have to remain dependent on a private car and this grant is actually one step I think in starting to get towards that target.

"I think this is a step towards the kind of climate policy that we actually need to see in Ireland."

Ms O’Connor said, however, that the cost of EVs with the new grant needs to be addressed.

"The fact that it's only new EVs, €8,500 isn’t a huge amount when it comes to that," she said.

"I think when we look at what's been recommended ... They're saying the Government needs to help people buy second-hand EVs as well, both from an affordability point of view, but also from a resource use point of view.

"It makes sense that we would buy the vehicles that are already there and that the Government are actually helping people to do that. There really is a need to go beyond pressing people into just new EVs and actually helping them with second-hand EVs as well from that affordability and resource point of view."

Ms O’Connor said that EV charging infrastructure in rural areas also needed to be looked at.

"You can't just put out EV grants into the world without also building charging infrastructure," she said.

"That is, as we know, one of the biggest barriers when it comes to EV uptake, needing to have that trust that you can actually charge your vehicle when you're out and about with it.

"You can't just do the EV grants without also putting a big investment into EV charging infrastructure and I think that will be the next stuff that needs to go hand in hand with this."