37% Of New Cars Sold In Norway Last Month Were Electric Vehicles and Could Be 100% By 2025

37% of all new private cars sold in Norway last month were plug-in electric vehicles.

The plug-in electric vehicle market in Norway has been rapidly increasing in recent years, mostly the government has brought in strong incentives for those who purchase and use electric vehicles.

One of the most popular incentives which are making drivers go electric is free toll roads, exemption. There are also tax benefits for going EV, for example, an exemption from the 25% VAT tax on new car purchases. They also get access to bus lanes and free parking.

All of these incentives combined with the increasing innovation in EV technology and the broad range of competitive EV options has helped enormously.

Another factor in the uptake of electric vehicles is because there have also been decades of EV awareness-raising in Norway.

In total 5% of Norway’s cars are now electric which has risen from about 1% two years ago and nearly 0% before the incentives were on offer.

There are now more than 100,000 zero-emissions vehicles in Norway and increasing.

Norway’s transportation minister has now publicly stated that it is a “realistic” possibility that sales of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles could cease in the country by 2025.

Tesla Taxi, Oslo

The Economist provides some further background:

“Norway first introduced tax perks to boost the electric-car market in the 1990s. But sales only sparked in the past 5 years or so after slicker vehicles with better batteries appeared.

“Now the country’s 5 million citizens constitute the most developed national market for electric cars anywhere.

“Christina Bu, who heads the country’s association for electric cars, expects 400,000 electric-only vehicles on the roads by 2020, and predicts 70% of new sales will be of zero-emission cars.

As range increases and price falls, demand will rise faster.”

Another factor that will invariably contribute to even greater sales of electric vehicles in Norway is the improving availability of charging stations.

Norway plans to increase the number of charging stations to accommodate the growing numbers of EV’s

The lack of charging stations is a primary barrier to large-scale electric vehicle adoption as these charge points are not as common as regular petrol stations.

When the infrastructure is in place, the adoption of EV vehicles should increase even more dramatically.

Author

Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader in automotive intelligence and vehicle data supply to the entire motor industry. He has almost 20 years experience in building systems from the ground up. As the Managing Director of Vehicle Management System, he understands the need and importance of trustworthy and reliable vehicle history and advice to both the trade and the public.
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