[Auto/Moto] Norway is the first country in the world to exceed 50% of electric vehicles sold

[EvKirito]

Norway became the first country in the world in 2020 in which electric vehicles accounted for more than half of new registrations, a milestone that puts it on track towards its goal of decarbonising all its new vehicles by 2025.

According to the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), despite the COVID-19 pandemic, electric vehicles had a market share of 54.3% last year, compared to 42.4% the previous year.

Unprecedented in the world, sales accelerated at the end of the year, and in December the market share of electric vehicles reached a new monthly record of 66.7%.

The four new best-selling models in the country (Audi e-tron, Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen ID.3 and Nissan Leaf) are all powered by electricity.

 

 

The fifth, the Volkswagen Golf, has a rechargeable version, but the statistics do not distinguish between the different types of engines.

"It is a very positive trend," said Christina Bu, general secretary of the Norwegian Association of Electric Vehicles, which promotes the "zero emissions" premise.

"We are well on track to meet the 2025 targets," she added. Norway, which is paradoxically the largest hydrocarbon producer in Western Europe, has the ambition for all its new cars to be “zero emissions” from that year on.

To achieve its objective, the Nordic country applies an extremely advantageous fiscal policy, although it began to cut some of the privileges granted to electric cars, such as free urban tolls or the possibility of using public transport corridors.

Unlike diesel or gasoline cars, which are subject to very high taxes, rechargeable cars are exempt from virtually all types of taxes, making them more competitive at the time of purchase.

 

Fossil energy and electrical energy

 

Hybrid vehicles, which combine fossil energy and electrical energy, also increased their sales in 2020, with a market share of 29.1% compared to 25.9% in 2019.

Despite this unparalleled performance, the Norwegian EV Association says that last year it expected electricity to account for almost 60% of the market. "We would have succeeded if it hadn't been for the coronavirus," Christina Bu noted, "but the virus delayed several launches."

For the current year, the association claims to have a 65% market share. "For the first time, the number of launches of electric models (which could be about 40) is expected to exceed that of other vehicles, including rechargeable hybrids," Bu said.

But even though it is progressing at record levels, the electrification of the Norwegian car fleet is still very progressive. At the end of 2019, 9% of the country's vehicles were running on electricity.

On the other hand, the advantages granted to the purchase of electric vehicles also have a cost for the state savings banks. According to the Norwegian Finance Ministry, last year the loss of tax revenue was close to 20,000 million crowns (about 2.33 billion dollars).