The Government has committed to having 1 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2030, which is welcome. The problem, however, is that the cost of purchasing such vehicles, compared to a petrol or diesel car, is far too high. Moreover, the batteries must be replaced after eight years at a crazy cost of more than €10,000. On Claire Byrne's television programme last Monday a family spoke about all of the good things they were doing to combat climate change. They had test driven an electric car and were very impressed with it. The reality, however, is that electric vehicles are too expensive for most families. After eight years electric vehicle owners must either replace the battery at a cost of more than €10,000 or scrap the car. How does scrapping cars help in dealing with climate change? The Minister, Deputy Bruton, initially provided funding for batteries, but down the road can some grant be given to help families and individuals who would like to purchase an electric car?

We are in a transition process from diesel and petrol cars to electric cars and that transition will continue for many years. We have set the target that, by 2030, electric cars will make up one third of the vehicles on the roads. To support the achievement of that target, we have in place a €5,000 grant, a €5,000 concession on vehicle registration tax, VRT, a €600 grant for installing a home charger, a lower rate of motor tax and a half-rate charge on tolls. It is a significant package and there has been good progress made. This year we will see close to 4% of drivers opting for electric or plug-in hybrid cars, which is double the number last year. In addition, we will double the number of public chargers this year, at a significant cost to the Exchequer. These measures will support people in making the switch. The cost of batteries is coming down and new technologies will help to make electric vehicles the self-evident choice.