The key to reducing transport emissions will be renewal of the Irish car fleet. Currently the average age of cars on Irish road is 9.9 years, we simply have not been selling enough new cars over the last decade to materially reduce the average age.

Our current national car fleet has 2.47 million cars on the road.

• Petrol and Diesel cars account for 84% (2.14 Million) of the National Fleet.
• Electric Vehicles (BEV & PHEV) now representing 7%.
• Average age of Petrol cars on the road is 11.3 years old and 10.3 years old for Diesel.
• 48% of the Fleet is now 10 years or older

The most effective way to address this issue is to reduce the number of older cars in the national fleet, which means we need to replace these cars with new cars. A minimum of 140,000 new registrations is needed each year to adequately renew the national fleet and maintain a healthy supply of used vehicles.

The composition of the new car market is changing. 

• Electric, Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles are gaining more market share, while Diesel and Petrol share have moved closer together, both still have an important role to play with diesel in particular being the fuel of choice for rural Ireland.
• With 2.47 million vehicles currently in the national fleet, there will continue to be a large number of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles in the Irish Fleet, even beyond the next 10 years, all of which will require servicing for many years to come. 
  
• For many motorists it will take time to transition from internal combustion engines as the cost to change even with incentives is not a viable proposition.
• The most effective way to address this issue is to reduce the number of older cars in the national fleet, which means we need to replace these cars with new cars.