Transport chiefs have announced the game-changing purchase of 120 new fully electric buses for Ireland. The historic €80.4 million deal with Antrim’s Wrightbus is aimed at helping the country decarbonise its transport fleet.

With 8,261 electric cars sold year to date in Ireland at the end of May, EV sales are almost equal their full year sales for 2021. The biggest selling model was Volkswagen’s ID.4 with 1,132 units, with Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 snapping at its heels literally on 1,127 units.

With Ireland’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) targeting 100pc electric vehicle sales by 2030, Dublin – representing 25pc of the national car fleet – is expected to play a significant role in the decarbonisation of our transport system.

A government-funded project which has seen vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers deployed in a range of locations across England to gain technical, customer and commercial insights on emerging V2G technology has concluded that the charge points can improve battery life in electric vehicles (EVs) and reduce carbon emissions and costs of charging.

Audi’s first charging hub in Nuremberg, Germany, has proven popular with local EV drivers. Citing “overwhelmingly positive” feedback following the pilot phase, Audi has announced a second charging hub pilot site in downtown Zürich, Switzerland, opening in the second half of the year.