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Ireland's car importers and makers have been responding to last week's announcement of the Government's climate action plan. In particular, the focus on exclusively battery electric vehicles, and the incredibly ambitious plans to sell almost 1-million battery EVs by 2030, are causing the raising of eyebrows to skin-breaking point.
Toyota responded with concern that the Government is ignoring the potential of hybrid vehicles in its plans (not least because of the new study by Emission Analytics that hybrids can actually be more effective, overall, than electric cars at reducing emissions - read more on that here).
"While the 2030 goal will not be an easy one to reach, Toyota is committed to playing its part and leading Ireland towards zero emissions motoring as we have been doing for the past 22 years with hybrid electric" said Toyota Ireland chief executive Steve Tormey. "Given the myriad challenges facing full electrification, from the global shortage of lithium for batteries through to the inherent challenges associated with creating a charging infrastructure that can cater to one million vehicles, it is our view that there is no silver bullet to reducing CO2 output. From our perspective the best potential to achieve the 2030 goal lies in a mix of alternatively powered vehicles. As such, over the coming years we will continue the development of our hybrid electric vehicles - which you don't need to plug-in - which are already delivering the lowest CO2 output of any car brand in Europe and have a major role to play in the next decade. In addition to this, our plan is to supply a range of zero emissions vehicles including the hydrogen powered Mirai which emits water that is pure enough to drink, as well as battery powered electric vehicles.
Tormey continued by pointing out that Toyota's hybrid models are much more effective in reducing CO2 than they are generally given credit for: "In 2019 alone, the new Toyota hybrids sold will result in the reduction of 60,000 tonnes of CO2 from our environment over the course of their lifetime. This saving comes from the fact that our new hybrid electrics drive in zero emissions mode up to 62 per cet of the time and deliver similar emissions savings on long commutes and in rural environments" he said.
Volkswagen, currently responsible across its myriad brands for as many as 26 per cent of new cars sold, gave the plan a slightly more welcoming embrace, but still pointed out that the plan requires more than mere words on paper. "Over the next five years, Volkswagen Group is investing around €30 billion in electric mobility. This includes the introduction of electric vehicles, CO2 neutral production, up to providing Volkswagen Group customers with a green energy contract to ensure "actual" zero emission during the usage phase of the vehicle. The Group is planning to launch almost 70 new electric models in the next ten years." said a spokesperson for Volkswagen Group Ireland.
"However, the growth needs to be supported by public charging infrastructure and incentives from the Government to replace older combustion engine cars, by new cleaner electric, plug-in hybrids and also latest-generation EU6 petrol and diesel engines as they will still be an important contribution to achieving the EU emissions targets of 95g/km by 2021 and beyond. Other stakeholders besides the car industry need to play their part, including initiatives to increase the share of renewable electricity in the Irish energy mix (at this stage, only one-third of electricity comes from CO2 emission free renewables*) to ensure the full CO2 reduction potential of a high EV car park share."
Renault was probably the most critical of the plan. The French car maker is one of the largest current suppliers of electric vehicles in Europe, but its Irish operations raised concerns with CompleteCar over the supply of electric vehicles from factories (which is expected to be restricted for some time to come), as well as the effect of any higher taxes on combustion engined vehicles pushing more and more buyers to cheap UK imports.