Electric Vehicles play a central role in our Climate Action Plan, in decarbonisation of our transport sector, and in eliminating emissions from our private car fleet. Electrification of the vehicle fleet offers a pathway to zero tailpipe emissions, with several co-benefits such as improved air quality, reduced noise pollution, and less fossil fuel dependence. The Climate Action Plan target is for 945,000 EVs on the road by 2030, with 845,000 of these to be private passenger cars. There are currently over 45,000 EVs registered on Irish roads so the pace of uptake must increase over the coming years to achieve our fleet electrification targets.
The Department provides a wide range of supports to incentivise the purchase of EVs. These include:
Grants are accessed via the dealer but information about which vehicles are eligible and where dealers are located is available from the SEAI. You can read more information about electric vehicles and grants.
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Globally, there is a notable effort to transition the transportation sector to reduce emissions from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and move towards electric vehicles (EVs).
As evidence, more and more EVs are appearing on Irish roads every day the discussion about sustainable alternatives to ICE cars, there is no doubt that EVs stand out.
They are a technologically more advanced and cleaner mode of transportation since they do not pollute the air (NB:various renewable sources can generate electricity to power the EVs; in Ireland, this is mainly electricity generated from wind (SEAI 2021).
This reduces the greenhouse gases (GHGs) being released into the atmosphere as burning fossil fuels is a primary source of GHGs such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) (Anandan, 2023). However, a new challenge emerges as Ireland and the rest of the world transition towards this cleaner transportation mode. What will happen to all the EV batteries when they reach the end of their lifecycle?
According to the Irish Electric Vehicle Association (IEVA), by the second quarter of 2023, Ireland's roads had more than100,000 electric cars, which included 58,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and 47,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) (IEVA 2023).
Additionally, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) stated that for the first time in Ireland's motor history, sales of ICE vehicles were lower than EVs in the first quarter of 2023 (SEAI 2023a).
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has highlighted a continuous growth in the adoption of EVs on Irish roads sdata shows that by August 2023, of all the newly registered cars in Ireland, 19% were BEVs.This is an increase from 13% over the same eight-month period in the previous year, 2022.
More specifically, in the first eight months of 2022, there were 11,618 BEV registrations, which jumped to 19,021 in the same period of 2023 – a significant growth of 64% (CSO 2023).
The graph below (see Figure 1) demonstrates the distribution of new BEVs from March to August 2023.The collected data clearly shows that BEVs accounted for 19.9% of all newly registered cars in August alone. NB:an increase in June can be attributed to an SEAI grant reduction from €5,000 to €3,500 (SEAI 2023b).Nevertheless, some EV manufacturers, like Tesla, have opted to cover the €1,500 difference, ensuring their new customers still benefit from the total grant (Tesla 2023).
Figure 1: Distribution of the new cars' fuel types registered between March and August 2023 (CSO 2023).
The statistics for total registered cars between 2017-2022 demonstrate a clear upward trend in the number of BEVs from 1% to 15% contrast, diesel cars experienced a significant drop during the same time frame, a decline from 54% to 27% (exactly half – see Figures 2 and 3).
Figure 2: The percentage of new cars in Ireland by fuel type between 2017 and 2022 (CSO 2023).
Figure 3: Number and Percentage of the new BEVs in Ireland between 2017 and 2022 (CSO 2023).
A concern arises when considering the average lifespan of an EV battery. Typically ranging between 10 to 14 years, depending on the battery chemistry, many early EV adopters will soon face battery replacement.Due to constant charge and discharge cycles, a battery's state of charge (SoC) eventually degrades over time.
Unfortunately, this degradation will result in a reduced charging capacity and, consequently, the vehicle's driving range (SEAI 2023c). This situation creates the primary environmental concern.
Expired batteries generate a risk to the environment, particularly damaged lithium batteries, which are extremely hazardous and demand careful handling and disposal.
Currently, EVs mostly use three types of batteries: lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) (see Table 1). These batteries contain potentially dangerous chemicals such as lithium (Li), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co), increasing the magnitude of the disposal challenge (Man 2023).
Table 1:Different EV battery chemistries and attributes (Man 2023).
This creates a fundamental question: how are various types of batteries recycled(including expired, faulty and damaged ones)?According to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Ireland, the organisation sends a specially trained team equipped with the necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and tools to safely handle, store and transport these battery packs for recycling (WEEE Ireland 2023).
They are collaborating with contractors like ELV Environmental Services CLG (ELVES), who are fully permitted to collect such units for decommissioning. Given the rigorous regulations, transporting certain batteries, such as damaged lithium ones, is quite challenging.
All contractors are bound by the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road Regulations (ADR); these regulations require specific packaging measures in place.
Depending on the battery's condition, special containers might be needed. For example, when dealing with damaged EV lithium batteries, a specialised storage container such as the LiBa®Box is used – see Figure 4 (NB: this example costs more than€14,000) (Gelkoh 2023.)
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