Ireland’s Electric Vehicle Market in 2025: Rebound Growth, Record BEV Sales, and Infrastructure Challenges

Ireland’s electric vehicle (EV) market made significant strides in 2025, with sharp rebounds in battery electric (BEV) and plug‑in hybrid (PHEV) light vehicle sales, continued deployment of electric buses (e‑buses), and expanding charging infrastructure. After a weak 2024, the data show renewed momentum in EV adoption, buoyed by strong consumer demand and supportive incentives, while transition in the heavier segments shows promising early progress.

Light Vehicle Segment: Passenger Cars & Light Commercial Vehicles 

In 2025, new car registrations in Ireland rose modestly to 124,954 units, a ~3% increase over 2024 (121,316), indicating a stable overall market. Light commercial vehicle (LCV) registrations also climbed by ~7% to 32,779 units. In contrast, heavy goods vehicle (HGV) registrations declined by about 5% to 2,715 units.

Electrified vehicles captured a significant share of the light passenger segment:

• BEVs: Ireland registered 23,601 new battery electric cars in 2025, a ~35% increase compared to 2024, marking the highest annual BEV sales on record. This accounted for 18.9% of all registrations. 
• PHEVs: SIMI data shows PHEVs held ~14.82% market share in 2025, reaching around 18.500 units through the year.

AF Market share of total registrations (M1)

Newly registered alternative fuelled (BEV, PHEV, H2, LPG, CNG, LNG) passenger cars as a percentage of the total number of registrations.

Combined, BEV and PHEV sales accounted for more than one‑third of all new passenger car registrations in 2025.

Leading Brands  

Volkswagen led the BEV market in 2025, with 3.266 registrations. Following came Kia with 2.829 and Tesla with 2.769. Hyundai was the only other automaker with more than 2.000 sales, reaching 2.557 BEVs registered in Ireland through the year.

Meanwhile, in the PHEV segment BMW led the market with 3.134 units, followed by Hyundai (3.059), Kia (1.840), Toyota (1.822) and Volkswagen (1.323).

Heavy Vehicle Segment: Buses and Trucks 

Ireland’s battery‑electric bus fleet more than doubled over the year, rising from about 96 in 2024 to over 200 electric buses in 2025. This reflects expanding electrification of urban transit networks as part of broader public transport decarbonisation goals.

Charging Infrastructure: Growth and Gaps 

Charging infrastructure expanded in 2025, though capacity remains at an early stage compared with many European neighbours. Ireland has over 2,500 publicly accessible EV charging points nationwide, and government programmes aim to add approximately 175 fast and ultra‑fast charging points at motorway and national network locations by late 2025.

Despite progress, Ireland’s charger network density remains lower than many other European countries, and gaps persist in rural coverage and high‑speed accessibility.

Forecast for 2026 

Ireland’s 2025 electric vehicle landscape reflects renewed growth and resilience following a challenging 2024. Strong increases in BEV and PHEV sales, robust market share gains in the light vehicle sector, and early successes in heavy vehicle electrification (e‑buses) demonstrate a market increasingly embracing zero‑emission mobility. Expectations point to further increases in 2026, as the arrival of newer, more affordable EVs helps promote adoption from the demand side, and the implementation of multiple support schemes for both EVs and EV charging points does the same on the supply side.

Sources:

• simi.ie
• zevi.ie 
• energia.ie

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the European Commission.