The number of electric vehicles on Irish roads could be almost doubled by a Department of Transport promoted initiative to increase the electrification of company fleets. The department wrote to the Department of Finance in April and said it was “fully supportive of the need to provide additional supports” for the use of electric vehicles in the vehicle leasing industry. According to a written answer in May by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan , there are about 32,000 EVs on Irish roads. In the submission, the VLAI proposed some regulatory changes for businesses to bring the cost of running electric vehicles on their fleets closer to the internal combustion engine (ICE) options. These included a full VAT reclaim on zero-emission vehicles, such as full battery electric vehicles (BEVs), or zero VAT rate on the lease of BEVs.

Source: Irish Independent July 18, 2021 01:30 UTC