Mr. Ken Spratt:

I mention the electrification of small public service vehicles, such as the fleets and taxis. We have a national electric SPSV grant scheme. It was established in 2018 by the then Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to support the electrification of taxi, hackney and limousine fleets. The scheme initially provided grants of up to €7,000 for battery electric vehicles, BEVs, and up to €3,500 for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, PHEVs. To encourage greater take-up, the grant levels were increased in 2020 to €10,000 and €5,000 for BEVs and PHEVs, respectively. Between 2018 and 2020, this initiative supported the registration of 101 electric SPSVs through grants of €627,000.

In addition, €1.5 million was allocated in 2020, to support a small public service vehicle recharging network scheme, which will see the installation of SPSV dedicated electric vehicle, EV, fast charging infrastructure at transport hubs around the country. Chargers were installed at Dublin and Cork airports as well as Heuston Station, Cork Kent Station and Limerick Colbert Station.

While we in the Department have just taken responsibility for EVs, we have been supporting the EV tolling incentive scheme since 2018, as I am sure the Deputy knows. The EV tolling incentive scheme provides discounts of approximately 50% on tolls for electric cars and vans. To date, registered vehicles have made more than 1.3 million discounted journeys and can claim up to €1,000 back every year.