“250,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2020″

REVA is the best selling electric car in the world.

The Minister for Energy, Eamon Ryan and Transport Minister, Noel Dempsey have announced the Government’s plans for a mass fleet of electric vehicles in Ireland.

A target of 10% of all vehicles in Ireland are to be powered by electricity by 2020.

Details set out in the Electric Vehicle(EV) Plan:

Tax incentives for business wishing to purchase electric vehicles

• Businesses will be able to write off 100% of the cost against tax under the Accelerated Capital Allowance Scheme

€1 million set aside by Sustainable Energy Ireland for the research and development of vehicles nationally

Guidance for individuals who wish to purchase an electric vehicle – the SEI is to publish a “Buyer’s Guide” and a “Cost of Ownership Calculator”

Set-up of a National Task Force which will develop infrastructure options for the national implementation of electric vehicles, including street charging stations.

This announcement comes days after a plan announced in California where they hope to set up a $1billion electric car network, while back in January Israel announced that by 2020 there entire fleet would be electrically powered.

Lets just hope that when it comes to installing the stations that they will be compatible to all the types of electric car, allowing charging of cars with either fixed or replaceable batteries.

There are already a number of companies offering Electric Vehicles in Ireland, including:

• “GreenAer” http://www.greenaer.ie/
• Smith Edison Vans  http://www.aviatrucks.ie/
• “Green Machines” http://www.greenmachines.ie/
• Electric Scooters  www.egoscooters.ie

Grants for companies www.sei.ie/aca

More information on purchasing electric cars see www.sei.ie/electricvehicle

Another list of Electric Vehicle Manufacturers (not all available in Ireland)