Podcast Ep 250: Derek Reilly and Derek Kavanagh on how Nevo and Bank of Ireland are helping to accelerate Ireland’s EV adoption.
Electric vehicle ownership is on the rise in Ireland. The latest figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that new car registrations rose by 1.9% in April, while registration of battery electric cars jumped by 23.7%.
So far this year, according to the data, 11,311 new electric cars have been registered, marking a 25.5% increase compared to the same time in 2024 when 9,015 electric cars were registered.
“The change in charging infrastructure that has happened over the last three years has absolutely been significant on a national basis. I’m just over three years into being an EV driver, and it’s like chalk and cheese from when I got the car three years ago”
It seems like a perfect [electrical] storm as growing EV ownership corresponds with a gradual improvement in key infrastructure such as charging stations.
At the forefront of this transformation are Nevo’s regional shows: specialised EV exhibitions that have quickly become the go-to destination for consumers looking to make the switch to electric. The business held events in Kildare and Cork recently with new upcoming events planned for Waterford and Galway and more may follow.
On 10 November, this activity will culminate in the Nevo Electric Vehicle Show at the RDS. Last year’s event was sold out with 12,672 attendees.
The event in 2025 is expected to be a bigger affair and will feature more than 80 electric vehicles from more than 30 leading automotive brands, including Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, BYD, Citroën, CUPRA, Dacia, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Jeep, Kia, Lexus, MG, Maxus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Opel, ORA, Peugeot, Polestar, Porsche, Renault, Skoda, Smart, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo, among others.
The road to an all-electric future
We sat down with Derek Reilly host of Ireland’s leading Electric Vehicle YouTube channel and Partnerships director of Nevo and Derek Kavanagh, head of Motor Finance at Bank of Ireland, to discuss their partnership, the rapid expansion of Nevo shows across Ireland, and what’s driving the country’s accelerating transition to electric mobility.
As Reilly recalls, Nevo began as a digital platform for EV information, but quickly expanded into physical events after seeing success in European markets. “We started off with the website, which was a great starting point. People would come and research what vehicles are available in the marketplace, book their test drives, and get educated.
“We’d seen a couple of European car shows specifically in the electric vehicle space, and we thought there might be an opportunity to run something similar in Ireland. We were just on that tipping point between early adopters and mass market.”
That instinct proved correct. After a successful launch in February 2024 at the RDS in Dublin, Nevo returned with an even larger show in November, occupying 10,000 square meters – “probably one of the largest electric vehicle car shows in Europe,” according to Reilly.
For 2025, Nevo has expanded to a two-day format for their November flagship event, with Friday dedicated to business-to-business interactions and Saturday open to the public. But perhaps most significantly, they’ve taken the show on the road.
Regional expansion: Bringing EVs to local communities
“We had a lot of feedback from people who couldn’t make it to Dublin,” Reilly notes. “So we brought it down to the country. We were in Johnstown House Estate in Kildare in mid-March, and then at the end of March, we were in Cork at Rochestown Park Hotel.”
The regional events feature a condensed version of the main show, with local dealers, experts, and panel discussions. “The feedback we’re getting from consumers is that it would take a day to run to one or two dealerships on a Saturday, but with the Nevo show, they could hit 10, 12, 15 brands all in one go,” Reilly explains.
The success of these regional events has prompted further expansion. “We’re going to be back in May, June, and July. We’ll be in the west in Galway, down in the southeast in Waterford, and back to Kildare again,” says Reilly, before returning for “the big Nevo” two-day show in November.
The upcoming regional events include Waterford’s SETU Arena on 24 May, Galway Racecourse on 14 June and the Curragh Racecourse in Kildare on 13 July.
Financing the electric transition
As a leading provider of automotive finance in Ireland, Bank of Ireland has been instrumental in supporting the transition to electric vehicles. “The partnership with Nevo has been really important for us,” says Derek Kavanagh. “Key to assisting consumers and businesses on that transition to greener motoring is effectively education.”
The Bank is seeing significant growth in EV financing. “If I’m looking at the first quarter this year, the EV market is up 26% year to date, and we’re exceeding that growth across our respective brands with about 47% growth within our own book,” Kavanagh explains.
Even more impressive is the growth in used EV financing. “Across our business, we’re seeing significant growth of nearly 190% year-on-year in the first quarter, and that effectively is due to more used vehicles becoming available on forecourts, more choice for the consumer, and really good value out there.”
The primary financing options remain Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) and Hire Purchase plans. “PCP roughly accounts for about 40% of consumer purchases, and that has remained relatively static over the last three or four years,” notes Kavanagh.
Market growth and consumer adoption
With approximately 10,000 new EVs registered in the first three months of 2025, the Irish market is clearly embracing electrification. Kavanagh identifies several key factors driving this growth.
“We’re seeing more mainstream brands and availability of more affordable vehicles coming online from various manufacturers, which broadens the range and reach for consumers from an affordability perspective,” he explains.
Manufacturer support is also critical. “Each of the franchise brands recognise the importance of assisting customers with the transition, whether that’s through education partnerships like we have with Nevo, or franchises significantly supporting low-rate finance campaigns.”
Infrastructure improvements have been equally important. “The change in charging infrastructure that has happened over the last three years has absolutely been significant on a national basis. I’m just over three years into being an EV driver, and it’s like chalk and cheese from when I got the car three years ago,” says Kavanagh.
Vorsprung durch Technik
Modern EVs are far more than just zero-emission vehicles – they represent a fundamental shift in automotive technology. “They’re very much computers on wheels or smartphones on wheels,” Reilly explains. “The functionality is phenomenal.”
Over-the-air updates allow cars to gain new features while parked overnight. Mobile apps enable pre-heating, pre-cooling, and route planning. Vehicle-to-load functionality means EVs can even power homes during outages. “In Australia, they recently had a hurricane, and people were able to use their MG4 to power their house for seven days because the battery is that big,” notes Reilly.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into vehicle systems. “ChatGPT is built into infotainment systems across different vehicles,” Reilly explains. “Mercedes-Benz has partnered with ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, taking the best of both those large language learning models.”
He explains these AI assistants can provide contextual information about locations, answer questions about music, and even act as an agent to book restaurants and coordinate travel plans.
As for the future of Nevo itself, Reilly is cautiously optimistic about international expansion. “Electric vehicles are global, and an electric vehicle in Ireland is the same as an electric vehicle in another zone. There are other markets out there with adoption rates similar to Ireland, so it’s potentially possible we could replicate the website, podcast, and YouTube channel elsewhere.”
Kavanagh sees continued evolution in vehicle financing models. “PCP and Hire Purchase will continue to be very important, but I think we will see variations develop into the future. Down the line, you could potentially have customers looking at a rental model, where for a fixed fee they can drive a car of their choice, perhaps with options to drive different vehicles throughout the year.”
With the market growing, technology advancing, and events expanding nationally, Ireland’s electric vehicle revolution appears to be accelerating rapidly – and Nevo and Bank of Ireland are helping to lead the charge.
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