The Government has no chance of achieving its “ludicrous” target for electric vehicles, Conor Faughnan has said. 

In 2021, the Government announced a target of one million EVs on Irish roads by 2030. 

Last year, there were only 110,000 EVs in Ireland and Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has admitted the country “won’t hit” the figure of a million EVs.  

“Having said that, if we continue to grow as we are right now, we’ll still have a very significant amount in the region of 630 to 700,000 EVs,” he told Newstalk Breakfast. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, transport expert Conor Faughnan said the target was never realistic. 

“The Green Party back in the day had set a ludicrously ambitious target for electric vehicles,” he said. 

“I’ve no problem with an ambitious target, but you need to put the mechanisms in place that give you some chance of getting to it. 

“And we haven’t been doing it.” 

An EV charger plugged into the rear of the vehicle. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Faughnan continued that the Government had failed to put in place the necessary financial supports that have incentivised people to buy an EV instead of a traditional petrol model. 

“Manufacturers - particularly European manufacturers - have to make them cheaper [as] the Chinese are ahead of us there,” he said. 

“And Governments need to subsidise them; he did hint at a scrappage scheme, which people have been talking about for a long time. 

“I would love to see that brought about, I think that has great potential.” 

However, Mr Faughnan predicted that ever greater numbers of EVs will be adopted “despite” Government policies, noting the technology is advancing at pace. 

“I mean Nissan have been touting that they have a battery that can give you 1,000km on a charge,” he said. 

“Can you imagine if you can buy an EV for €30,000 that give you 1,000km on a charge? 

“Problem solved.”

Main image: An Electric Vehicle Fast Charge Point in Dingle, County Kerry. Picture by: Andy Gibson / Alamy.