It was a good start to the year for the electric car market in Ireland with record breaking sales of new electric vehicles in January.

4,925 new electric vehicles were registered in Ireland last month, a 20% increase on January 2024 and the highest ever monthly figure for EV sales in the country.

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry said that fully battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid vehicles combined to capture 55% of the market share of new vehicles registered in January 2025.

Brian Cooke, Director General of SIMI, expressed optimism about the market for electric cars in Ireland, but also said that support must be maintained for the growth of the EV market.

“The underlying EV market continues to be dependent heavily on private sales which benefit from SEAI grant support, highlighting the importance of ongoing Government incentives to help stimulate the market.”

“However, while there is cautious optimism over the trajectory of EV sales, one good month of sales does not necessarily define the whole year, and we still have a long way to go in the transition to electrification.”

“The supply of EVs is there, with more newer EV models coming on stream across a range of price-points, so the focus must be clearly on supporting demand in what is still a relatively new market.”

The top selling models for new electric vehicles in January were:

1. Volkswagen ID. 4
2. Kia EV3
3. Hyundai Kona
4. Kia EV6
5. Nissan Leaf
6. Skoda Enyaq
7. Volvo EX30
8. MG MG4
9. Ford Explorer
10. Hyundai Ioniq 5

The greatest year on year growth in sales was recorded in counties which still only saw small volumes of EV sales in January. 

Offaly saw a 62% jump in electric vehicle registrations, 47 last month compared with 29 in January 2024. In Monaghan 29 new EVs were sold (+61%), in Cavan 36 (+80%), and Kerry 87 new EVs were sold (+50%).

Other counties with a larger number of electric vehicle sales also saw significant yearly increases. The 2,280 new EVs registered in Dublin represent a 20% increase on January 2024. Cork (+6.13%) saw more modest growth with its 450 EV sales, Kildare (+27.31) exceeded the national average with 303 sales, and in Meath 203 new EVs were registered in January (+17.3%).

Some counties did see sales figures decline compared with January 2024, such as Wicklow (-15.03%), Longford (-22.22%), and Leitrim (-16.67%).

However, while Wicklow still saw 130 new electric vehicles registered in January 2024, even with the 15% drop> Longford and Leitrim only had 14 and 10 new EV sales respectively, making their year on year decline less dramatic.