State aid needed to cover cost of e-cars for wheelchair users

The Government must increase supports for people with severe disabilities to cover the hugely increased costs of buying an electric car.

Galway West TD Noel Grealish told the Dáil last week that the car manufacturers who made the vehicles currently suitable for adaptation for wheelchair users were all switching to electric cars, creating a huge problem for thousands of people.

Speaking on a Private Members’ Motion tabled by the Regional Independent Group of TDs, which sought a range of improvements for people with disabilities, he said they could face increased costs of up to €20,000 as a result of the switch.

Deputy Grealish explained that the holders of Primary Medical Certificates currently benefited from exemptions under the Disabled Persons and Disabled Passengers Scheme.

“Primary Medical Certificates are issued to people who have a severe and permanent disability which generally restricts their movements. Most need a wheelchair to get around,” he said.

“Up to now, holders of such certificates could qualify for an exemption from VAT and vehicle registration tax, VRT, when buying cars that are accessible or adaptable for wheelchair use.

“These exemptions have substantially reduced the ultimate cost to the buyer, who is typically a wheelchair user or a carer of a wheelchair user, including parents of children with serious disabilities. These are people who already have to cope with huge expenses associated with a disability.”

But he warned there was a crisis looming, because the manufacturers who make the cars that are wheelchair adaptable are switching over to making only electric vehicles.

“This is a problem that is looming large now, not just something that is going to arise as we approach 2030, the year by which sales of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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