Mr. Brian Cooke:

There are very few second-hand Irish electric vehicles. Most of the electric vehicles on the road have been registered in the past two or three years, so there is not really a used car market. Norway has a much more mature market. There is an appetite for used cars, even with older technology.

Regarding the battery life, there are electric vehicles from 2014 available for sale on Irish websites. Most manufacturers' warranties are for eight years or 150,000 km, which means they expect a battery to last for longer than that. There is potential for a new car to have two, three or four owners during its lifetime. The bottom line is we need to get new cars that will become used cars in three, six or nine years.