Norway on track to become the first to go all-electric

Norway is the world leader in the adoption of electric cars, with nine out of 10 new vehicles sold in the country last year. Can other nations learn from it?

Oslo car dealer Harald A Møller has been importing Volkswagens for over 75 years, but said goodbye to fossil fuel cars at the beginning of 2024.

All passenger vehicles now on sale in its showroom are electric (EV).

“We think it’s wrong to advise a customer who comes here today to buy an ICE (internal combustion engine) car, because the future is electric,” says CEO Ulf Tore Hekneby, as he walks around the cars on display. “Long haul, high load speed. It’s hard to go back.”

On the streets of the Norwegian capital, Oslo, battery-powered cars are not a novelty, they are commonplace. Look around and you’ll soon notice that almost every other car has an “E” on the “electric” license plate.

The Northern nation of 5.5 million people has embraced electric vehicles faster than any other country, and is on track to become the first to phase out new fossil fuel car sales.

Last year, the number of electric cars on Norway’s roads exceeded that of gasoline-powered cars for the first time When diesel vehicles are included, electric cars make up almost a third of all on Norwegian roads.

And last year 88.9% of new cars were sold in the country EVs were In 2023 it was 82.4%, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed.

In some months, sales of fully electric cars reached 98%, as purchases of new gasoline or diesel cars were almost lost.

On the contrary, in the United Kingdom electric cars are complete only 20% number of new car registrations in 2024. Although this was a record, and over 16.5% in 2023.

In the US, it was a figure only 8% last year, up from 7.6%.

Norway is definitely an EV pioneer, but this electric revolution has been going on for three decades.

“It already started in the early 1990s,” says Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association, who took me on a tour of Oslo in an electric van.

“Gradually taxing petrol and diesel cars more, so they’ve become much more expensive to buy, and electric cars have been exempt from taxes.”

Support for electric vehicles was first introduced to support two Norwegian electric vehicle manufacturers, Buddy (formerly Kewet) and TH!NK City. While the business was closed, incentives for greener vehicles remained.

“Our goal is always to see that it is a good and viable option, to choose zero emissions,” says Cecilie Knibe Kroglund, Norway’s Deputy Minister of Transport.

Even though it is a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims to make all new cars sold “zero emissions” starting sometime in 2025. The non-binding target was set in 2017, and this milestone is now within reach.

“We’re closing in on the goal, and I think we’re going to reach that goal,” Kroglund added. “I think we’ve already made the passenger car transition.”

The key to Norway’s success has been long-term and predictable policies, he explained.

Instead of banning combustion engine vehicles, the government has guided consumer choices. In addition to penalizing fossil fuel vehicles with higher tax and registration rates, low emission cars were exempted from VAT and import duties.

Then came a series of perks such as free parking, discounted tolls and access to bus lanes.

In comparison, the European Union wants to ban the sale of new fossil fuel cars by 2035, and so does the current UK government. Ban its sale in 2030.

The sale of petrol and diesel cars is still allowed in Norway. But few choose to buy them.

For many locals, like Ståle Fyen, who bought his first electric vehicle 15 months ago, going electric made economic sense.

“With all the incentives we have in Norway, no tax on electric vehicles, that was quite important for us financially,” he says as he plugs in his car at a charging station in the capital.

“In the cold, the range is maybe 20% shorter, but even so, with our extensive charging network here in Norway, that’s not a big problem,” adds Fyen. “You just have to change your mindset and load up when you can, not when you have to.”

Another driver, Merete Eggesbø, says he was one of the first people in Norway to own a Tesla in 2014. “I really wanted a car that didn’t pollute. It gave me a better conscience to drive.”

Many of the fuel pumps at gas stations in Norway have been replaced by fast charging points, and there are now more than 27,000 public chargers across Norway.

It is compared to 73,699 in the UK – A country 12 times larger in terms of population.

This means that, for every 100,000 people, Norway has 447 chargers and the UK has just 89. according to a recent report.

Tesla, VW and Toyota were the top selling EV brands in Norway last year. Meanwhile, Chinese brands – such as MG, BYD, Polestar and XPeng – now make up 10% of the market, according to the Norwegian Road Federation.

Norway, unlike the US and the EU, has not imposed tariffs on Chinese EV imports.

Ms Bu says “there is no reason for other countries to copy Norway”. However, he added that “doing it in a way that can work in each country or market”.

Norwegians are no more environmentally conscious than elsewhere, he believes. “I don’t think a green mentality has much to do with it. It has to do with strong policies, and people gradually understanding that driving an electric car is possible.”

However, Norway is a very wealthy nation, thanks to large oil and gas exports, with a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $1.7 billion (£1.3 billion). This means it can more easily pay for large infrastructure building projects, and absorb the loss of tax revenue from the sale of petrol and diesel cars and their fuels.

The region has an abundance of renewable hydropower, which makes a difference 88% of its production capacity.

“A third of cars are now electric, and in a few years it will exceed 50%,” says Kjell Werner Johansen of the Norwegian Transport Research Centre. “I think the government accepts that some new petrol or hybrid cars will still be on the market, but I don’t know anyone who wants to buy a diesel car these days.”