A new survey by Carzone.ie (which styles itself as 'Ireland's trusted motoring marketplace') has found that searches for and page views of electric cars are dramatically surging. The data reveals that hybrid and electric car views on Carzone have increased by 53 per cent and 106 per cent respectively year on year, and Carzone reckons that there's a direct corollary with the introduction of the Government's Climate Action Plan that calls for more than 900,000 electric vehicle (EV) sales by 2030. Interest in electric SUVs has grown by a massive 1,366 per cent year-on-year.
Nissan gets the most electric searches
Of those searches, the Nissan Leaf - currently Ireland's overall best-selling EV - is still the most-searched for car. Page views of the Leaf have grown by 19 per cent since last year (from 104,311 views to 123,818). Carzone reckons that the introduction of the longer-range 62kWh version of the Leaf will cause those figures to accelerate even more.
Nissan also claims the title of most viewed EV brand on Carzone for 2019 to date. Tesla is the second most viewed EV brand on Carzone with views of the Tesla Model S up 4 per cent on last year and the arrival of the its all-new Model 3 will likely spur further interest.
The BMW i3 takes the third-most viewed electric car in the charts, while the Renault Zoe comes in fourth. According to Carzone: "With high consumer interest in EVs, along with ambitious government sustainability plans, the demand for EVs will continue to increase in to next year, with a number of new EV launches forthcoming, including the Opel Corsa-e, Mercedes-Benz EQC, Peugeot's e-208 and the Volkswagen ID.3."
Toyota dominates hybrids
Hybrids are also gaining in popularity, and it's no surprise to find that the most hybrid-focused brand, Toyota, is currently top of the Carzone hybrid charts. The Prius Hybrid, Yaris Hybrid and C-HR top the search lists, while Lexus is the second-most searched-for hybrid brand, followed by BMW in third place.
Mitsubishi's plug-in hybrid Outlander is also seeing increased interest, with page views up by 75 per cent, 63,402 in 2018 to 111,250 for the same period in 2019. That makes it the most-viewed hybrid model, followed by the Lexus IS 300h in second place, and the Toyota Prius in third.
Two-thirds of motorists plan to switch to hybrid or electric
Karl Connolly, Audience manager at Carzone comments: "The new insights from Carzone confirm the shift in attitude towards electric and hybrid cars over the last few years as motorists get to grips with alternative fuels and the benefits they bring. According to the 2018 Carzone Motoring Report almost two thirds of Irish motorists were planning to make the switch to an alternative fuelled car soon, and this is reflected in the views on Carzone over the past 12 months. It will be interesting to see if the interest continues to rise in the coming months and years".