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Electric cars (BEVs) have overtaken hybrid to become Ireland’s single most popular engine type for the first time, taking a 26% share of year-to-date new car registrations, ahead of hybrid (25%), petrol (20%), plug-in hybrid (14%) and diesel (12%).
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July alone delivered a record 9,682 new electric car registrations — up 98% year-on-year and the highest monthly BEV total ever recorded in the Irish market.
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EV ownership is also concentrated: Dublin and Cork alone account for almost half of all private electric vehicles on Irish roads, according to the CSO, with Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Galway together making up 70% of the national EV stock.
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DoneDeal Cars analysis of European data shows the shift puts Ireland ahead of Italy, Spain, Poland and the UK, and roughly level with Germany. However, it is still a long way behind Nordic leaders Norway (98%) and Denmark (80%), where electric is already the overwhelming default choice.
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DoneDeal Cars’ own data shows EV-specific searches up 68.5% year-on-year in July, as buyer interest keeps building alongside the sales figures. DoneDeal Cars is also Ireland’s largest electric car marketplace, listing over 6,900 new and used EVs for sale, including over 6,600 from dealerships and over 4,100 from its Trusted Dealer network.
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Even so, electric cars remain a small share of the cars already on Irish roads: CSO figures show just 4% of the State’s 3.34 million-strong vehicle fleet was electric at the end of June, a reminder that leading new car sales is a very different milestone to turning over the national fleet.
Ireland has become an “EV-first” market for the first time, with new analysis by DoneDeal Cars, Ireland’s largest car marketplace, of the latest new car registration figures from SIMI (Society of the Irish Motor Industry) showing electric cars have overtaken every other engine type to become the single most popular choice for Irish new car buyers.
Year-to-date to the end of July, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) account for 26.12% of all new car registrations, edging out hybrid (24.59%) for the first time this year, with petrol (20.39%), plug-in hybrid (14.45%) and diesel (12.45%) trailing further behind. July was a record month in its own right: 9,682 new electric cars were registered, a 98% jump on July 2025 and the highest monthly BEV total the Irish market has ever recorded.
Ireland’s place in Europe’s electric car race
Ireland’s shift to an EV-first market puts it in reasonable company. DoneDeal Cars has compared Ireland’s year-to-date figure against the International Council on Clean Transportation’s (ICCT) European Car Market Monitor, which tracks BEV market share across Europe’s largest car markets for the first half of 2026.
The comparison shows Ireland has already pulled clear of some of the continent’s biggest markets. Italy (8%), Spain (10%) and Poland (5%) — three of Europe’s five largest car markets — are all still well behind Ireland’s electric adoption rate, as is the UK (25%). Ireland now sits almost exactly level with Germany (26%) and just behind France (28%), putting it firmly among Europe’s upper-mid tier of EV markets.
But there is real distance to make up. Norway (98%) and Denmark (80%) are in a league of their own, where electric cars are no longer just the leading choice but close to the only choice. Finland (49%), Iceland (43%) and Sweden (42%) also sit well clear of Ireland, with the Netherlands (37%), Belgium (36%) and Luxembourg (29%) forming a further tier above. To match Denmark’s share, Ireland’s BEV registrations would need to roughly triple; to match Norway’s, they would need to almost quadruple.
“Becoming an EV-first market is a genuine milestone for Ireland, and it’s tempting to get carried away with it. But put it next to the rest of Europe and you get a more honest picture: we’ve caught up with Germany and moved clear of bigger markets like Italy, Spain and the UK, which is real progress. Set against Norway and Denmark, though, we’re still only getting started — electric buyers there aren’t leading the market, they basically are the market. Ireland’s momentum is real, but so is the gap still left to close.”
— Paddy Comyn, Head of Automotive Content and Communications, DoneDeal Cars
Context: the national fleet takes far longer to turn over
New car sales are one thing; the cars already on Irish roads are another. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), there were 134,475 electric vehicles registered in Ireland at the end of June 2026, which is just 4% of the State’s 3.34 million-strong vehicle fleet. Petrol and diesel cars still account for 85.3% of vehicles on the road. It has taken 16 years since Ireland’s first EV registration in 2010 to reach that 4% mark.
EV ownership is also concentrated: Dublin and Cork alone account for almost half of all private electric vehicles on Irish roads, according to the CSO, with Dublin, Cork, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Galway together making up 70% of the national EV stock. Becoming an EV-first market for new sales is a genuine milestone but turning over the wider national fleet, and spreading adoption more evenly across the country, will take considerably longer.
That 4% figure looks different depending on what it’s held up against. It sits almost exactly level with Germany (4.1%) and just ahead of France (3.5%), but remains well behind the UK (6.1%), the Netherlands (7.4%), Denmark (21%) and Norway (32.4%), where years of higher EV sales have already fed through into the wider fleet. The same pattern as new car sales holds for the existing fleet too: Ireland has genuine company, but the Nordic leaders are further down a road Ireland has only recently joined.
DoneDeal Cars sees the same shift and leads the market for choice
Buyer interest is following the sales data. DoneDeal Cars’ own platform data shows EV-specific searches rose 68.5% year-on-year in July, as more Irish car buyers actively research an electric car before they buy.
DoneDeal Cars is also Ireland’s largest electric car marketplace, giving buyers the widest choice as demand grows. The platform currently lists over 6,900 new and used EVs for sale, including more than 6,600 from dealerships and over 4,100 from DoneDeal Cars’ Trusted Dealer network.