Incentivising EV Conversion
The average car in Ireland has a life expectancy of just 8.62 years – from the first time it is sold, to the time when it is crushed into a cube and scrapped.
In the process, tonnes of plastic and metal waste are created, and many tonnes more need to be extracted from the Earth to create their replacements. Although, this doesn’t have to be the case, as we demonstrated in our recent article How EV Conversion Works – detailing how you can convert your petrol, diesel or hybrid car to run as a clean, pure electric vehicle.
Today we look at how the Irish government could incentivise this industry as part of its ambitions to reduce emissions and tackle the Climate Crisis.
Ending Emissions
There is no coincidence that Ireland has both one of the highest percentages of diesel vehicles in the world and one of the highest greenhouse gas emissions rates in the EU.
While the sale of new diesels is set to be banned in 2030, they still accounted for 64% of all newly registered vehicles in 2018, while a further 54,000 diesel cars were sold in 2019. As such, their incredibly harmful emissions pose a major problem even after the ban comes into effect.
These emissions are both harmful to human and planetary health, while 20% of all of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the Transport sector.
As such, converting our petrol, diesel and hybrid cars to run as electric vehicles offers an opportunity to make major in-roads to lowering our emissions. With EV conversions potentially taking as little as half a day to complete, and costing as little as €2,000-€5,000, they can be a quick and cost-effective solution too.
Stopping Scrappage
All kinds of vehicles can be converted at an affordable price, reducing waste and the need to extract materials from the Earth to make new cars. Credit: New Electric Ireland
A common approach to tackling high emission vehicles in the past was to offer a scrappage scheme, where governments would subsidise drivers, who could get more than the value of their current car towards a newer, cleaner model.
In fact, back in 2010 the Irish government offered up to €1,500 for older cars as a stimulus to get drivers into cleaner cars – with as many as 550,000 vehicles believed to qualify for the scheme back then.
The issue is that this still creates a huge amount of metal and plastic waste, while also requiring the extraction of new metal and oil – and the inordinate ecological consequences that come along with that, including land clearances, oil spills and the destruction of habitats.
Incentivising Change
However, we know that there is a perfectly viable and affordable way to get zero-emissions cars on our roads: EV conversion.
Within a few years it will be possible to convert any car to run as an EV with a range of 320km or more for €5,000 including parts and labour, according to Kevin Sharpe of New Electric Ireland – a company that specialised in both EV conversion and training people to convert their cars.
Kits are designed to fit specific models and are then replicated to reduce cost and make the conversion process quicker and easier. Credit: New Electric
“We decided to set up New Electric Ireland to promote open source technology and to train people in how to use it in order to expedite the adoption of EV conversion – and fundamentally behind that is the idea that we should upcycle and not replace,” states Sharpe.
“We believe it’s critical that this technology is out there, and is understood, because we really believe in the circular economy. We’ve seen so many perfectly good vehicles scrapped. Seeing all the Dieselgate cars that got crushed is outrageous.”
Sharpe believes that government funding for EV conversions presents a great opportunity to lower emissions while supporting the circular economy and creating new jobs in the process: “As a society we need to embrace the Right to Repair and upcycling, and change how we value keeping a vehicle on the road rather than replacing it.”
He continues: “Adding a monetary return for the net ecological benefits of EV conversion would help make mass-market conversions viable,and if we had the same level of financial incentive as a scrappage scheme, it would encourage a lot more people to get involved.”
“I know a lot of garage owners and mechanics who want to get involved, but with the volume at the moment, it just isn’t being seen as viable for their business. But we can change that quickly.”
Offering the same €1,500 incentive as the 2010 scrappage scheme would enable Irish drivers to convert their car for around €3,500 – around a tenth of the cheapest brand-new EVs on the market today, while also giving comparative range to a €30,000 car.
With just seven years to tackle the Climate Crisis and avert the worst-case outcomes – which include the displacement of billions of people, regular crop failures and increased flooding – EV conversion could present an ideal opportunity to kick-start the green revolution and act as a stepping stone to even more sustainable approaches.
What To Read Next
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