Government announces up to €20,000 in grants available to taxi drivers switching to electric vehicle ownership.

Find out more below!

The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan TD has announced a renewed eSPSV grant scheme for taxi drivers and hackney's. This scheme, previously available with €1M of government funding, has been increased to €15M in 2021 allowing for increased grants for small public service vehicle (SPSV) owners.

Taxi drivers purchasing an EV from Windsor can now claim up to €20,000 in grants against a new electric vehicle when they scrap their old, high mileage petrol or diesel vehicle. Furthermore, if they upgrade to a wheelchair-accessible model, a further €2,500 is available.

This means that, in total, up to €22,500 in grants is available to those who scrap their old taxi or hackney for a new electric vehicle. This equates to double the previous grant in 2020.


Watch: Paul Clooney, LEAF Taxi Driver

When Dublin taxi driver Paul Clooney told his work colleagues that he was going to ditch his diesel taxi after twenty years and make the switch to a Nissan LEAF EV he was greeted with the same response - ‘you’ll never make it work’.

As a taxi driver working 12 hour days, driving up to 2,000 kilometres during working weeks and an average of 70,000 kilometres a year, Paul was not surprised when his fellow drivers at Gala Cabs in Lucan challenged him on the wisdom of buying a 100% electric vehicle for use as a taxi.

“A lot of taxi drivers said to me that I’d never make it work, but I’d done my homework. It’s been a superb investment for me. Over the year the car will save me around €13,000 between fuel and service costs,” said Paul, who is now one of the world’s most influential Nissan LEAF drivers.

Minister Ryan TD said, "An efficient and low emitting public transport system is a key priority for my Department. This scheme will play a critical role in helping to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions while also normalising the use of electric vehicles in Ireland. The overall funding has risen to €15m to help accelerate the greening of the SPSV fleet. It represents a doubling of supports in many instances as we work to support the sector as it moves towards electric vehicles.

Replacing older vehicles can play an important role in effecting a substantial reduction in transport CO2 and emissions, and the changes to the Scheme in 2021 reflect greater levels of support for older SPSVs, or those with high vehicle mileage.”

As part of the support for the SPSV sector, the Department of Transport is investing in the installation of SPSV dedicated recharging infrastructure across the country. Last year, chargers were installed at Dublin (22kW and 2 x 150kW) and Cork (22kW and 50kW) airports, which are both already operational, as well as at Dublin (Heuston), Cork (Kent) and Limerick (Colbert) train stations (2 x50Kw) which will be available to SPSV drivers by March. Further installations at key transport hubs will also be completed in 2021."



If you are a taxi driver wishing to avail of this scheme, contact your local Windsor Motors dealership today!​

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