Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 February 2022
258. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Transport if he has examined the inclusion of an income cap for electric vehicle grants; if so, the income caps that were examined by his Department; the estimated number of persons that would be excluded under each income cap if it was introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8171/22]
View answerThe SEAI grant scheme aims to encourage behavioural change and support the Government’s commitment to achieving a 51% reduction in transport emissions by 2030.
The grant schemes are kept under continuous review to ensure that they are as effective as possible in driving the decarbonisation effort.
On July 1st 2021, the grant process was changed so that only vehicles that had a retail price of under €60,000 were eligible for grants, so as not to spend government funds subsidizing high cost vehicles.
In addition, this Department convened the Electric Vehicle Policy Pathway (EVPP) Working Group to produce a roadmap to achieving the 2030 EV target. The EVPP Working Group comprises senior officials and has considered regulatory, financial, and taxation policies to help drive a significant ramp-up in passenger EVs and electric van sales.
The recommendations of the EVPP Working Group were approved by Government and the full report is now available online.
In order to support the transition to EVs, the Group recommended that the generous suite of EV supports already in place in Ireland should be retained until at least end-2022. Additional measures to further incentivise EVs and/or disincentivise fossil-fuelled vehicles will also be necessary.
As such, the report recommended that cost-effective, targeted policy supports should continue to be developed and strengthened over the coming years and that an Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) should be established, as a matter of priority, to co-ordinate the implementation of existing and future EV measures and infrastructure.
This new Office should also take charge of developing and launching an extensive communication and engagement campaign, whole-of-Government in coverage, to drive the availability and understanding of key information regarding EVs, tailored to household, business and public sector consumers. Work is now under way to establish this OLEV.
Overall, the Department is acutely aware that the cost of electric vehicles remains an issue for many consumers. To this end, electric vehicle policy is kept under continuous review with a view to making low-emission vehicles affordable.
