The world’s car fleet according to the most conservative estimates exceeds more than 1.5 billion vehicles at the same time, the total number of electric vehicles is only 0.7% of the mentioned indicator but times are changing and right now electric cars are successfully expanding into the vastness of the transport industry. Norway is leading the way in electric vehicle sales as well as leading the electric passenger car revolution.
Welcome to Norway, one of the richest and most developed countries in the world which stands guard over advanced technologies, incredible Landscapes and environmental initiatives. This small country is home to about 5 million people. Its GDP per capita is higher than USA, Canada, and Japan. Not surprisingly, Norway is one of the locomotives of the electric revolution in the transport sector. Even petroleum which is the foundation of the nation’s economy, did not prevent the achievement of trying to be a emission free country. Norway is among the top 10 countries that are the largest exporters of black gold in the world. But all this does not prevent local residents from being sensitive to nature and actively contributing to the development of a carbon neutral economy.
Norwegians began to look closely at electric cars back in the mid 70s. This period is now referred to as the concept phase, referring to the emergence of prototypes on the local market and the introduction of government programs aimed at developing advanced electric Motors. During that time, there was a serious interest in alternative fuel cars arose in Norway in the 70s but then at that time EVs were far from perfect and often caused more trouble than good. The next stage started in 1999. This year was considered to be the birth year of the Norwegian electric vehicle market. In 2009, the country introduced a government organisation called TransNova. Its main task was to actively develop the network of charging stations. This led to a real boom in the electric car market in Norway in 2,013, the third and final stage of the expansion of transport using alternative fuel cells started in the country.
Electric cars earlier were not cheap. Combined with the high paying capacity of the Norwegians and tax breaks, played a decisive role in the new transport boom. Norway became the first country in the world where alternative fuels took a dominant position in the market. What car makes and models are in greatest demand in the Northern Kingdom? Surely many believe that the American giant represented by Tesla has taken over the market, but actually it has not. For instance, last year, the sports crossover Audi Etron became the most popular car among electric cars. The Tesla Model 3 came in second, followed by cars such as the Volkswagen ID.3 and Nissan Leaf and the hybrid version of the Volkswagen Golf.
According to preliminary estimates. By the end of 2,021, all electric cars will account for about 65% of the Norwegian car market. This is a phenomenal indicator that demonstrates the commitment of the local population and importantly, the authorities, to a rapid transition to transport with alternative energy sources. By 2,025, the country is eager to completely abandon the purchase of Ice cars, replacing them with electric cars, plug in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell cars.
The country has made buying and owning an internal combustion engine car much more expensive than buying and maintaining an electric car. The secret to the success of electric vehicles in Norway is simple, low population, high purchasing power of the population, commitment to sustainable modes of transport, and a relatively small car market.
There are Teslas everywhere in the Norway. It’s not just Teslas, there are electric cars everywhere. There are electric cars in the United States and Canada but nothing like how it is in Norway. It turns out that Oslo, the capital city, is actually the epicentre of electric cars. In 2020 in the United States, of all the new cars that were purchased about 2% were electric. In Norway, it was more than 50% and that trend is only speeding up.
Norway’s 99% of normal electricity comes from Hydro power, which is from dams. So the country really has cheap, clean energy in abundance that can be used to power these electric cars. The real core explanation here the reason why there are so many electric cars on the road comes down to government policies. The government incentivizes very strongly people to buy electric vehicles. This happens in various forms. Citizens who own electric vehicles get free parking, access to the HOV Lane, which essentially has way less traffic, they don't have to pay registration fees and they get tax deductions on income tax. Perhaps the biggest incentive of all is on the business side, companies like Tesla don't have to pay sales tax for selling their cars in Norway. So all of this combined makes it actually way, way cheaper for someone to buy a Tesla here in Norway than to buy one in the United States.
There are 2,000 charging stations in the city of Oslo only, these charging stations are mostly placed on the pavement on sidewalks. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is, all these charging stations are free. So citizens just need to find a vacant charging station and just go ahead and plug their car.
All of these government subsidies that help fund these electric cars are funded by what's called the Sovereign Wealth Fund, a huge fund that Norway has. It's worth almost a trillion dollars. The sovereign wealth fund in Norway is comprised almost entirely of oil money, oil and gas money, fossil fuels. Norway is a huge producer of oil and gas, and they sell that to other countries and reap the benefits in terms of revenue and put that into their sovereign wealth fund, which then think it's funnelled into subsidies for electric cars.
So the country is not burning the oil here and releasing carbon into the atmosphere, but they're selling it off to go be burned somewhere else. The rest of the world needs oil. There are a lot of countries that are developing like China and India that will always need energy. The green shift that the country is trying to make since quite some years is actually funded by oil money. Norway is trying their best reduce their carbon footprint on the planet but then at the same time increasing the carbon footprint of other nations by selling oil and gas. Hence the irony is not lost in any way.
Besides that, Norwegians truly strive to achieve unity with nature and contribute to a brighter future for Planet Earth. It is for this reason that there is no doubt that the Northern Kingdom will not only be able to completely abandon the purchase of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2,025.