See all Motoring NewsElectric cars are becoming more and more common on these shores, and as uptake increases, incentives will naturally reduce. But when the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, announced the 2024 Budget, he confirmed some measures would stay in place, while others will slowly taper down over the coming years.
But what has changed, and what has stayed the same? And more importantly, what do all the changes mean for you?
Purchase grants
Perhaps one of the headline changes to Ireland’s EV incentives is the reduction in the grant for buying a new electric vehicle, which formerly stood at up to €5,000. As of January 1, 2024, however, the maximum grant fell to €3,500 for qualifying vehicles.
As before, those last two words are important. To qualify, a vehicle must be fully electric, in the M1 (passenger car) category and cost between €18,000 and €60,000. And that price includes any optional extras, paint and delivery charges, but doesn’t include any grants or rebates. If the car costs any more than that, there’s no grant at all, while cars that cost less will see the grant shrink in line with the vehicle’s price.
For example, an EV costing between €14,000 and €15,000 will only be eligible for a €1,500 grant. For cars costing €15,000-€16,000, the grant rises to €2,000, and it rises again to €2,500 for cars costing €16,000-€17,000. The full grant structure is detailed in the table below.
|
EV Price |
Grant |
|
€14,000-€15,000 |
€1,500 |
|
€15,000-€16,000 |
€2,000 |
|
€16,000-€17,000 |
€2,500 |
|
€17,000-€18,000 |
€3,000 |
|
€18,000-€60,000 |
€3,500 |
VRT relief
Government grants aren’t the only way in which EV buyers are being incentivised, though; there are Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) implications, too. While VRT for vehicles that emit high amounts of CO2 is incredibly high (although the 2024 Budget confirmed there would be no increases), drivers of more reasonably priced electric cars have been excused from paying VRT for a while now. That was all due to end at the end of December 2023, but the government has now decided to continue the VRT relief scheme until the end of 2025.
That EVs with a purchase price of less than €40,000 will continue to be exempt from VRT, while buyers of vehicles costing between €40,000 and €50,000 will get some relief. For those cars costing more than €50,000, however, there is no reduction in VRT, although because VRT rates are charged according to emissions, EV drivers will still pay less VRT than drivers of more cars powered by any other means.
BIK breaks
At the same time, the government extended the Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) tax breaks for EV drivers. Because BIK tax is essentially calculated using the car’s Original Market Value, or OMV, the relief works by making deductions from that value. As a result, the €10,000 deduction in place last year will continue through 2024, while an additional €35,000 deduction will be applied to cars made available during 2023, 2024 and 2025.
In essence, then, drivers of any car with an OMV of less than €45,000 will pay no BIK tax on vehicles made available in 2023 and 2024. And vehicles with a higher OMV will only pay BIK on the value above €45,000. As OMVs tend to roughly follow purchase prices, that gives drivers some indication of whether a vehicle will be eligible for the deductions.
Between 2025 and 2027, however, that figure is set to fall. In 2025, only the €35,000 OMV deduction will apply, and that deduction will fall to €20,000 in 2026. In 2027, it will fall again, dropping to €10,000. At that point, drivers will have to pay some BIK, but with tax rates decided partly using emissions data, EVs will still incur less BIK than similarly priced combustion-powered vehicles.
Toll discount
The Low Emission Vehicle Toll Incentive (LEVTI), introduced in 2018, was designed to incentivise the use of low- and zero-emission vehicles by offering discounts on road tolls such as the Dublin Tunnel and the M50.
Under the scheme, drivers of private battery-electric vehicles were offered up to 75 per cent off the cost of the M50 toll, and savings of 50 per cent were available in the Dublin Tunnel. However, the scheme was scheduled to end on December 31, 2023, and high demand meant it was pulled early, on November 1, 2023. Now, all private vehicles must now pay the full toll price.
Charging
Those who drive an electric car and want to charge at home were previously eligible for a grant of up to €600 to cover the cost of buying and installing a home charging unit. However, SEAI has now dropped that grant to €300, and will only pay out if certain criteria are fulfilled.