The Government is drafting new laws that would ban new petrol and diesel car registrations by 2030, as part of a strategy to protect the environment.
The aim is to ensure that one third of vehicles on the roads are electric in ten years' time.
The Sunday Independent reported that Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton is planning to publish the law early in the new year.
The new measures will be included in the Climate Action Amendment Bill 2019.
It is understood that the bill will be developed further in conjunction with other departments.
The Government's Climate Action Plan aims to reduce emissions and be carbon neutral by 2050.
Transport emissions accounted for over 20% of Ireland's emissions in 2018.
The Government is planning to have 936,000 electric vehicles on the roads by 2030, including battery operated and hybrid vehicles.
It has promised to double the amount of home chargers installed and further roll-out the nationwide network of on street charging points.
exhibitionista on December 30th, 2019 at 01:24 UTC »
Take with a grain of salt any commitments made by political parties that aren't scheduled to happen within the span of an election cycle.
fitzroy95 on December 29th, 2019 at 20:56 UTC »
This is going to become increasingly common worldwide.
Much of Asia is already heading this direction, with Japan, South Korea, China etc already deploying large fleets of hydrogen fuel cell buses, trains, trucks, fork lifts, and a few short distance ferries (basically anything that currently uses large diesel engines), as well as large numbers of battery electric private cars.
they haven't yet mandated the conversion, but they are moving that way fairly fast
Johnboysmole on December 29th, 2019 at 20:45 UTC »
There are already government grants of up to €5000 if you buy an electric car, and a grant of up to €600 if you install a charging point at your home.
The government are really pushing it. We have a 2013 diesel but when it dies we'll probably look into an electric, the grants are a big incentive.