John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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408. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to assess the reduction in general carbon emissions of an electric car, the power for which is derived exclusively from fossil fuels versus an electric car powered exclusively from clean power such as wind. [38463/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The analysis undertaken for the Climate Action Plan shows the need to switch from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles in tandem with decarbonising our electricity system in order to achieve our 2030 emissions reduction target. For this reason the Climate Action Plan includes a target of 936,000 electric vehicles on the road in Ireland by 2030 in addition to a target of increasing our electricity generated from renewable sources to 70% by 2030.

Currently a typical new battery electric vehicle emits circa 1.25 tonnes of carbon per annum compared to a fossil fuel powered car which emits circa 3 tonnes per annum. As the emissions intensity of electricity decreases, due to increased levels of renewable energy and the end of peat and coal use for electricity generation, the emissions of the battery electric vehicle are expected to fall to circa 0.5 tonnes per annum by 2030, so in 2030 an electric vehicle will produce one sixth of the emissions that a internal combustion engine does today.