Electric vehicles grants cleared

Environment Minister Pat Rabbitte has signed the Electric Vehicle grant scheme. This ends a limbo situation where it wasn't possible to sell or register electric cars unless the owners were willing to forego the grant.

The scheme had been announced by the previous Fianna Fail/Greens Government, but hadn't been signed off by them.

In the scheme, all vehicles with CO2 emissions of less than 75g/km CO2 emissions will be eligible for a purchase subsidy of up to €5,000. 

Qualifying vehicles sold after 1 January 2011 are eligible for the grant, and a total of €5m has been allocated for this purpose.
 
The aim is to have 10 percent of vehicles (approximately 220,000) powered or part powered by electricity from the grid by 2020.