Norway nears 100% goal of all-electric cars

Virtually 96 % of recent vehicles registered in Norway in January had been electrical, an unparalled quantity on the planet and near the nation’s aim of promoting solely zero-emission automobiles as of this yr.

A complete of 9,343 new vehicles had been offered in January, of which 8,954 had been all-electric, the Norwegian Street Federation (OFV) mentioned.

Of the 50 most-sold fashions, solely two had been non-electric, the primary of which got here in thirty third place, the OFV mentioned.

By comparability, the share of electric cars in Europe was simply 13.6 % within the full-year 2024, a decline for the primary time since 2020, in keeping with the automobile producers’ foyer ACEA.

“We’ve never seen this before… If the rest of the year continues like this, we will very soon be close to the 2025 goal,” OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen mentioned in a press release.

“But if we want to cross the finish line with 100 percent electric cars, it will be necessary to maintain the incentives that make it profitable to choose an electric car over other other models,” he added.

Regardless of being a significant oil and fuel producer, Norway goals for all new vehicles offered to be “zero emission” beginning in 2025, which is 10 years forward of the aim set by the European Union, of which Norway shouldn’t be a member.

In distinction to Brussels’ plans, Oslo has not banned the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engineshaving as a substitute opted for a system of beneficiant tax breaks which have made them aggressive in opposition to closely taxed inside combustion vehicles.

They’ve additionally benefitted from toll exemptions, free parking in public automobile parks, and the usage of public transport visitors lanes.

Chargers all over the place

Whereas some tax breaks and incentives have been rolled again over time, electrical vehicles have develop into commonplace on Norwegian roads.

“It was a decision primarily motivated by climate and environment considerations,” Frode Hvattum, a 50-year-old father of three who owns two EVs, advised AFP.

“Another reason was of course the benefits that come with them,” he mentioned, describing himself as a “climate enthusiast”.

In his upscale neighbourhood of Baerum in suburban Oslo, the streets are filled with Teslas, Audis and Volkswagens. Competitively priced Chinese language manufacturers are more and more showing too.

Many houses have a storage with an EV charger, along with Norway’s huge nationwide community of superfast charging stations that maintain the nation rolling.

That was a precondition for Frode Hvattum, who, like many Norwegians, travels often by automobile to his chalet within the mountains a number of hours from Oslo.

“It’s less complicated now that the network is so well-developed. You don’t have to plan your trip as much as before,” he mentioned, including that he makes use of the 15-20 minute charging breaks wanted to make it as much as the mountains to buy meals.

Mission achieved

Even when EV gross sales fail to fulfill the one hundred pc mark this yr, consultants say that Norway may be seen as having met its aim.

“We should finish the year at between 95 and 100 percent, and probably even in the high end of this range,” Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian Electrical Car Affiliation, advised AFP.

A brand new tax improve on inside combustion vehicles and rechargeable hybrids—that are cleaner however nonetheless run partially on petrol or diesel—on April 1 ought to assist.

In January, diesel vehicles accounted for simply 1.5 % of recent vehicles registered in Norway, and petrol vehicles simply 0.4 %, in keeping with the OFV.

“Political leaders can’t rest on their laurels,” Bu warned.

“They have to maintain the advantages, such as the toll discounts, so the transition to EVs spreads on the second-hand market,” she confused.

© 2025 AFP