Norway is the world leader in EV sales, but now it’s crossed a new landmark: the first country with more EVs than gas cars in service.
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240915025331/https://electrek.co/2024/09/14/there-are-now-more-electric-cars-than-gas-cars-on-norways-roads/
I’m curious how well they handle the colder temperatures.
Battery capacity plummets when temperatures drop really low.
Also charging is a whole lot slower
It’s a mixed bag imo. Don’t go on a long road trip in the cold…
I’ve been traveling all across the US in an EV and haven’t had any issues with range in the winter. Colorado mountains during ski season, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana in the spring. The built in navigation routes you to chargers based on current conditions and I’ve seen minimal range drop.
Norway is a rich country so the government can help people buy electric instead of gasoline cars. Of course, they got rich by selling oil, but yes.
They actually don’t use the fund to subsidize it. And many policies were added overtime, which any managed economy should be able to do.
The Norwegian EV incentives:
- No purchase/import tax on EVs (1990-2022). From 2023 some purchase tax based on the cars’ weight on all new EVs.
- Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase (2001-2022). From 2023, Norway will implement a 25% VAT on the purchase price from 500 000 Norwegian Kroner and over
- No annual road tax (1996-2021). Reduced tax from 2021. Full tax from 2022.
- No charges on toll roads (1997- 2017).
- No charges on ferries (2009- 2017).
- Maximum 50% of the total amount on ferry fares for electric vehicles (2018)
- Maximum 50% of the total amount on toll roads (2018-2022). From 2023 70%
- Free municipal parking (1999- 2017)
- Access to bus lanes (2005-). New rules allow local authorities to limit the access to only include EVs that carry one or more passengers (2016-)
- 25% reduced company car tax (2000-2008). 50% reduced company car tax (2009-2017). Company car tax reduction reduced to 40% (2018-2021) and 20 percent from 2022.
- Exemption from 25% VAT on leasing (2015-)
- The Norwegian Parliament decided on a national goal that all new cars sold by 2025 should be zero-emission (electric or hydrogen) (2017).
- «Charging right» for people living in apartment buildings was established (2017-)
- Public procurement: From 2022 cars needs to be ZEV. From 2025 the same applies to city buses
And a lot of smart investment, see the UK for an example of a country that got a 50% share in the exact same oil fields and continues to run itself into the ground to pay oligarchs.
Yeah, I’d be a bit more excited if they weren’t making most of the money to pay for that by exporting vast amounts of oil and gas.
