FERMANAGH may have the lowest sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids in Northern Ireland, but demand for them is still rising.
The new statistics, provided by the Electric Vehicle Association Northern Ireland (EVANI) based on work by research organisation New AutoMotive, show that Fermanagh sold 15 EVs in April, which was two more than in the same month in 2023.
Similarly, 35 hybrid vehicles were sold in April locally – three more than last year.
Mark McCall, chairman of EVANI, believed their popularity would continue to increase here.
“A driver needs to see a fit-for-purpose network available to make the switch [to EVs],” he said.
“The likes of Enniskillen has good rapid chargers now, so this is helping. There are other big advantages for rural areas.
“Sixty per cent of homes in Belfast do not have off-street parking, which means you have to charge on public chargers all the time.
“Whereas it’s 80 per cent off-street parking in rural areas, which is a massive cost advantage.”
Mr McCall said sales would improve as time goes on and charging infrastructure increased in the region.
“West of the Bann is crying out for more infrastructure, that said, there has been a big improvement over the past two years,” he explained.
“Fermanagh needs more of these rapid chargers but plans are being made to meet the need here.
“We’ve gone from 20 rapid chargers [for EVs] in Northern Ireland to 130 in the last two years. This is a six-fold increase, so we’ve turned a corner there and progress is being made.
“ All the EuroSpars will be getting rapid chargers, for example. We’re also tracking 20 different companies that are installing chargers.”
EVs and hybrids made up almost half of the new cars sold in Northern Ireland in April with 1,595 registrations.
Sales of electric vehicles across the North grew by 6.4 per cent compared to April 2023 with 434 sold. While 1,161 hybrids were sold, 54 per cent more than the corresponding month last year.
Hybrid vehicle sales increased across all six counties. By contrast, the sales of both diesel and petrol vehicles fell overall in April when compared to April last year.
Antrim saw the most EV sales of any county in Northern Ireland with 302 sold, which was an 18.9 per cent on the previous year.
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