Electric vehicle sales doubled in Kilkenny in 2022

Kilkenny saw a surge in popularity for electric hehicles in 2022, with sales more than doubling the 2021 tally.

Across the county’s forecourts some 224 new electric vehicles were registered in 2022, up 107.41% on the 2021 figure of 108.

ALERT: Boil water notice remains in place for 3,300 customers in Kilkenny

The figures came after the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) released their official new vehicle registrations statistics for the past 12 months, the total new car registrations for 2022, finished at 105,253 +0.3% on 2021 (104,932) and down 10.1% on 2019 (117,109).

Kilkenny fared better than the national figures. In 2022 the county had 1,932 new registrations, up 3.82% on 2021’s tally of 1,861.

New Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) registrations in 2022 saw a decrease of 17.7% (23,653) compared to 2021 (28,742) and -6.6% 2019 (25,336), while New Heavy Commercial Vehicle registrations (HGV) saw a decrease of 8.1% (2,494) in comparison to 2021 (2,715) and -6.2% on 2019 (2,659).

Imported Used Cars saw 46,490 registrations in 2022, a decrease of 26.9% on 2021 (63,617) and a decrease of 59.2% on 2019 (113,926).

BREAKING: Tesco confirmed as owners of old mart site in Kilkenny City

A total of 15,678 new EVs were registered in 2022, an increase on 8,646 in 2021 and 3,444 in 2019.

The stats reflect a changing marketplace in 2022.

Petrol accounted for 30.16%, Diesel 26.77%, Hybrid 19.29%, Electric 14.90%, and Plug-In Hybrid 6.76%.

Petrol remains the most popular engine type for 2022, despite a decline in its market share last year (32.16%) while hybrid, electric and plug-in hybrid continued to gain market share in 2022 and now account for 41% of the market.

Automatic transmissions have taken over in popularity, now accounting for (56.99%) of market share, while manual transmissions have declined (42.95%).

Large new housing development planned for County Kilkenny

The hatchback continues to remain Ireland’s top selling car body type of 2022. While grey is the top selling colour and has continued to keep that title now for the past seven years.

“Looking forward to the new 231 registration period, retailers are reporting strong new car orders, which will also attract vital trade-ins for the used car market,” said Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General.”