Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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396. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department intends to introduce a vehicle registration tax credit for vehicles with an open market selling price in excess of €50,000, as a means to incentivise the purchase of electric large public service vehicles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30181/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Electric vehicles (EVs) play a central role in Climate Action Plan 2021 with a target of 175,000 on the road by 2025 and 945,000 EVs on the road by 2030. There are currently over 58,000 EVs registered on Irish roads (end April 2022). By 2030, the abatement impact for an additional 845,000 passenger EVs is estimated to be c. 2.5 Mt C02eq. This figure is informed by the Department of Transport’s modelling of the projected car fleet profile for Climate Action Plan 2021.

In support of achieving these missions reductions, there are already a significant number of grants/tax incentives available for the purchase of EVs including:

- Vehicle Registration Tax relief of up to €5,000 for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). From January 2021, this relief is no longer available for BEVs with an Open market Selling Price of >€50,000. This cap was introduced as a value for money consideration to ensure the reliefs remains targeted.

- Purchase Grant Scheme – provides up to €5000 for the purchase of a BEV

- Home Charger Grant - Up to €600 towards the installation cost of a domestic charge point for new and second-hand BEVs or PHEVs.

- Low Motor Tax - BEVs qualify for the lowest tax band of motor tax at €120 per annum, while a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) is typically taxed at circa €170 per annum.

- BEVs qualify for a Benefit-in-Kind exemption of up to €50,000 without mileage conditions.

- BEV and PHEVs qualify for 50% and 25% toll reductions respectively up to a maximum €500 annual threshold for private vehicles and a maximum annual threshold of €1,000 for commercial vehicles

- A grant of up to €10,000 to support the purchase of a BEV in the taxi/hackney/limousine sector with an additional €2,500 available for those choosing to make their vehicle wheelchair accessible. Those scrapping older, more polluting, or high mileage vehicles are now eligible for double the normal grant if they make the switch to electric with up to €20K available for a new BEV, €25K for a new wheelchair accessible BEV and €15K for a new wheelchair accessible PHEV.

- Alternatively Fuelled Heavy-Duty Vehicle (AFHDV) Purchase Grant Scheme - grant levels under the Scheme are calculated as a percentage of the difference in price between a conventionally-fuelled diesel HDV and its alternatively-fuelled equivalent.

In summary, I am satisfied that the Government has provided a broad suite of supports for the uptake of EVs. Given the availability of the above grants/tax incentives there are currently no plans to introduce a vehicle registration tax credit for vehicles with an open market selling price in excess of €50,000.