ELECTRIC CARS MAY FINALLY TAKE OFF

WHILE electric is the way forward, Irish car buyers are proving themselves slow to embrace the Greener alternative to their fossil fuel-powered models.

And while the statistics may look impressive, a 98 per cent increase in new electric vehicles coming on to our roads in the past 12 months, the figure comes from a low base, 610 in the year to the end of October 2017 compared to 1,211 over the same period this year.

Having said that, 2019 could be the year electric and hybrid cars really take off in Ireland, with some stunning new models about to come on the market, some of the new Toyotas, Audis and BMWs amongst them, but virtually every marque is looking to electric and hybrid as the way forward.

But despite all the hype, diesels are far from dead and new data released today by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) provides evidence that latest-generation diesel cars emit low pollutant emissions on the road. This data was measured in real-driving conditions by the drivers of the various national type approval authorities.

Some 270 new types of diesel cars type-approved against the latest Euro 6d-TEMP standard were introduced on the European market over the past year. The new data shows that all of these diesel cars performed well below the NOx threshold of the real driving emissions (RDE) test, which applies to all new car types since September 2017. What is more, already today most of these vehicles show results that are below the stricter NOx threshold that will be mandatory from January 2020.

RDE measures key pollutants, such as NOx and particles, emitted by cars while driven on public roads over a wide range of conditions. RDE therefore ensures that pollutant emission levels measured during the laboratory test (WLTP) are confirmed on the road, and that the legal thresholds are not exceeded during day-to-day driving.

Each of these 270 RDE-compliant diesel vehicle types represents a whole ‘family’ of similar cars of differing variants, so a multitude of low-emitting diesel cars are now available on the market. The German automobile club, ADAC, estimates that there are more than 1,200 different RDE-compliant cars available today1. Moreover, their availability is increasing rapidly.

Erik Jonnaert, ACEA Secretary General, said: ‘These new findings prove that modern diesel cars, supported by fleet renewal policies and combined with alternative powertrains, will play a strong role in helping cities move towards compliance with air quality targets. In parallel, diesel vehicles will continue to remain important for reducing CO2 emissions in the short and medium term, even though all manufacturers are expanding their offer of electrically-chargeable cars.’

The current thinking is that if you live in a city, electric or hybrid, is probably the way to go, but if you live in counties like ours, with large distances between charge points, you will probably need to rely on carbon-based fuels for years to come, or at least a self-charging hybrid.

Over the past few years, most of the electric cars coming on to the market have had limited range, but models capable of travelling 400 km on a single charge are now available, however, it will be interesting to see how these numbers work out on the road, in bad weather, or at night, when the draw on power is greatest.

Until recently, the government encouraged us to buy diesels to cut down on emissions, but , ignoring the latest research, increased the rate of VRT on the registration of diesel cars, a measure described as ‘poorly considered’ by SIMI Director General Alan Nolan.

‘City-based car buyers have already moved away from buying new diesel cars, the Dublin diesel share having reduced from 70% in 2014 to 51% this year,’ said Mr Nolan.

‘The bigger impact here will be on rural and business buyers for whom diesel is still the better environmental choice. The real problem is that this type of provision is likely to have a different impact to what is intended, for instance it may cause some purchasers to postpone their car change, reducing the potential to add cleaner new cars into the fleet. This Industry has been strongly supportive of the transition away from internal combustion engines and in reducing the diesel market share.

‘The government is well aware of the fact that this transition has already been happening quite rapidly without this type of negative provision which appears to be more about the perception of being seen to take some environmental action in the aftermath of the decision not to increase Carbon Taxes,’ he said.

In the meantime, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of second hand diesel models being imported into Ireland, the sales driven by the low value of Sterling against the Euro because of Brexit.

Cartell.ie tracked the imported fleet in 2018 (all vehicles) between January 1 and September 30 and found that the vast majority (76%) of vehicles currently imported into Ireland are diesel aspirated. There has also been a significant jump in the numbers of Petrol/Electric Vehicles (+193%) and Electric Vehicles (+148%) over the past 12 months indicating these vehicles are finding their feet in the Irish market.