For many decades, thanks to the ravages of vehicle registration tax (VRT), it was a depressing exercise for any car enthusiast to compare the prices of new cars in Ireland with the same models in the UK. Irish taxation on new cars meant that there was usually a significant gap in cost between one and the other, and the cheaper cars sure weren’t on these shores.
If the conversion to electric motoring does nothing else it has at least temporarily broken that particular curse. In fact if you compare the base price of the Renault Zoe – one of Europe’s most popular electric vehicles (EV) – then you will find that it is actually a fraction cheaper in Ireland – €27,550 compared to £27,595 (yes, I know that ignores the exchange rate, but it’s the optics that count here).