THE QUEUES AT petrol stations and the protests around the record fuel prices during the spring did something that years of government advertising and carbon taxes never quite managed. They made the argument for electric cars personal.

We had been told in a hundred different ways that going electric is better for the environment and cheaper to run over time. We nodded, and kept filling the diesel tank.

Then the fuel protests arrived, prices jumped, some people queued to get petrol and in some rural areas stations ran out, and a certain number of us started doing the mental arithmetic differently.

At DoneDeal Cars, we wanted to understand whether that shift was real and how deep it ran. So we surveyed Irish drivers this month on their cars, their spending, their concerns, and their plans.

Before the fuel crisis, 38% of respondents described themselves as interested or very interested in switching to electric. Afterwards, that had risen to 57%. A 19-point swing. The proportion with no interest at all fell from 34% to 23%.

Now, interest is not the same as action. But here is where the numbers tell another story.

Right now, just 9.5% of respondents drive a full electric car. When asked what type of car they plan to buy next, 26% said fully electric. That is almost three times current EV ownership. Hybrids and plug-in hybrids account for a further 40% of stated next-car intentions. Just 10% say their next car will be diesel, and 7% petrol.

Half of all respondents plan to change their car within the next two years. That is a window that is open right now. The........

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