Number of Vehicles by Taxation Class and type of Fuel.

Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics published today: 2,717,722 vehicles on Irish roads

The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport has today published its annual Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics.

The bulletin is the result of a broad analysis of the national vehicle fleet and contains statistical tables covering:

• The size, composition, age and fuel type of vehicles;

• Details on the first licensing of new and imported used vehicles;

• The number of current driving licenses in each local authority.

Some Key Statistics:

• The total number of licensed (taxed) vehicles recorded on Irish roads at December 31 2018 is 2,717,722. 

This represents an increase of 41,843 vehicles (1.56%) on the previous year. 

The main components of the vehicle fleet include 2,106,369 private cars, 355,273 goods vehicles, 75,196 agricultural tractors and 40,198 motor-cycles.

• In the passenger car category, the number of vehicles at 2,106,369 represents an increase from 2,066,112 in the previous year of 1.95%.

• A total of 1,386,208 passenger cars are now taxed based on their Co2 emissions ratings.

This represents an increase of 191,052 (15.99%) units on the previous year figures and the CO2 based vehicles now represents 65.8% of the overall passenger car fleet. 

There are 87.45% of vehicles bases in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ CO2 bands less than 141 g/km.

• A total of 157,865 new vehicles were licensed, a decrease of 3,975 on the previous year figure.

125,874 imported used vehicles were licensed in 2018, an increase of 7,856 (6.65%), on the 2017 figure.

• 36% of vehicles use petrol while 62% use diesel.

• 32,083 vehicles use fuel type petrol and electric, an increase of 51.9% on 2017 figures and 4,825 vehicles use electric only, an increase of 65% on 2017 figures.

2,789 vehicles are petrol/plug in hybrid electric which is an increase of 1,918 vehicles (220%). 

• 73.8% of private cars are four years old and over while 62% are six years old and over. 

In 2012, 82.6% of private cars were four years old and over while 63.83% of private cars were six years old and over.

• 70.5% of goods vehicles are four years old and over while 60% are six years old and over.

• There were 2.90 million current driving licences at December 31 2018.

91.7% held full licences. 

There were 240,064 Learner Permits licences, a decrease of 6,084 on the 2017 figure.

The bulletin is available at http://www.dttas.ie/roads/publications/english/irish-bulletin-vehicle-and-driver-statistics-2018 or from the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division by email at dvcsdda-ta@dttas.ie