EVs Just Became Ireland's Best-Selling Car — Don't Let Your Electricity Plan Lag Behind

EVs are now Ireland's best-selling car type

New registration figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show a milestone for the Irish car market. Across January–July 2026, battery electric vehicles took 26.12% of new car registrations — ahead of petrol-electric hybrids (24.59%), petrol (20.39%), plug-in hybrids (14.45%) and diesel (12.45%). July alone saw 9,682 new EVs registered, a record for the month and up 98% on July 2025. However you feel about the shift, the practical upshot is the same: a lot more Irish homes are about to start charging a car overnight. And a lot of those households are going to reach for an "EV tariff" without checking whether it's actually their cheapest option.

Why an EV tariff isn't automatically the right call

EV tariffs advertise a very cheap rate for a few hours overnight — often 8–12c/kWh. That's a genuinely good rate for charging. But the trade-off is usually a higher rate on everything else you use during the day, plus sometimes a higher standing charge. That's a good deal if:

• You do most of your charging inside the cheap window

• The rest of your household usage is relatively light during the day

It's a worse deal if:

• You work from home, run an immersion, electric shower, or heat pump during the day

• You only plug in a couple of nights a week rather than every night

• The EV tariff's day rate is meaningfully higher than a standard or smart tariff's day rate

What to actually compare

Don't compare "EV rate vs EV rate" across suppliers — compare your whole bill:

• Day rate × your daytime usage

• Night/EV rate × your charging usage

• Standing charge, which is fixed regardless of the label on the plan

A standard or smart time-of-use tariff with no EV branding at all can sometimes beat a dedicated EV plan once your full household load is factored in — especially if your daytime usage is higher than average.

Check it properly before you switch

The only way to know which plan actually wins is to run your real numbers — your home usage plus your expected charging — against every supplier's day, night and EV rates side by side, not just the headline overnight figure. Compare every Irish electricity plan with your real usage →