Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I want to focus on cost and infrastructure, and a little on alternatives. The first point, which others have made, is the disparity between the cost of an internal combustion engine vehicle at the starting point in the market and the entry level electric vehicle. It is €11,000 or €12,000 for the cheapest internal combustion engine car, which is a Dacia. It is probably not a good example because most of them are approximately €15,000. The starting price for an electric vehicle is approximately €28,000, which includes the €5,000 grant. This is coupled with the fact that there is not a big enough second-hand market. This question is directed at Mr. Cooke, unfortunately. While the State is doing a fair bit of the lifting with regard to the provision of grants, the motor sector also needs to work on reducing prices, especially at entry level. Some of the vehicles that I have referred to are small cars. We are talking about the supermini class, or whatever it is called in the trade. There is something that can be done to reduce overall costs. For instance, in France, Germany and Austria, an EV can be bought for just over €20,000. I know that the witnesses will say that is due to taxation or such, but there are other measures relating to the costs being higher in this jurisdiction.

It is important to recognise what is being done by ESB for infrastructure, notwithstanding what Senator Dooley had to say, with which I kind of agree. There are positive aspects to it. The SEAI grant for home charging is welcome. One area that we are still deficient in is the fact that our building regulations do not mandate new properties to have electric charging infrastructure included when the homes are sold. That is an important part of the puzzle to support what Ms Sayers said with regard to 80% of charging taking place at home, with the network being provided really only being for a charging boost on the journey. My questions are about what we can do to reduce the cost. Is it purely taxation and do we need to look at that? Would the industry support the building regulations being changed? In recognition of the alternative means of travel, with the investment in public transport and personal light EVs, PLEVs, which are now being changed to personal powered transporters, PPTs, should the grants be extended to include the likes of cargo bikes? It is an obvious deficiency in the existing State supports for bikes.