 JUST 14 electric cars a month are being sold in the republic, despite a (EURO)60m (?53m) state grants scheme aiming to have 220,000 on the road by 2020.  after two months, the Sustainable Energy authority of Ireland (SEaI) has had just 35 grant applications, 28 of them from private customers.  When the initiative was launched in December, the target was for 2,000 electric vehicles to be on the road this year and 4,000 by 2012. Eamon Ryan, then the republic's energy minister, said: "2011 will be the year electric cars become a common sight on Irish roads."  The introduction of grants, due to start in January, was delayed until april, but the number of pre-orders and sales has been low. Critics claim the state plans are too ambitious and the public is not ready to trust the costly technology, especially when the number of cars available is limited and the infrastructure to charge them is not fully in place.  William Smith, a lecturer at UCD's school of electrical and mechanical engineering, felt many people were put off by "probably ju 