Irish government promotes awareness of electric vehicles

DUBLIN, Ireland - In a bid to increase public awareness about electric vehicles in Ireland, a government-funded campaign called ‘DrivingElectric’ was launched on Wednesday.

The campaign was launched at the Royal Dublin Society, which is the largest exhibition centre in the Irish capital.

The event saw dozens of latest models of electric vehicles including BMW i8, BMW i3, New Nissan Leaf, and Zoe of Renault being displayed.

Officials encouraged visitors at the campaign launch to register for a test drive of any model they like at local dealers. 

As part of the initiative, all the test drives of these models are free of charge as part of the campaign launched by the Irish government.

Denis Naughten, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, who inaugurated the campaign said in a statement that later this year, more such test drives of electric vehicles will be rolled out nationwide.

Naughten further added that his department has secured a record level of funding this year to introduce a series of measures in an effort to boost electric car ownership in the country. 

He noted that these measures include purchase grants, zero percent Benefit-in-Kind and home charger installation grants.

The minister further pointed out that there were only 3,800 electric vehicles in Ireland at the end of last year, making up less than one percent of its total vehicle population.

He said, "I would like to see a greater uptake and not just by private car owners but in the public sector as well.”

Adding that the Office of Government Procurement will actively engage and advise the public sector on the use of electric vehicles across all areas including the army, police, post offices, educational institutions and health organizations.