Norway is on track to be the first to switch to fully electric cars

Norway is a world leader when it comes to purchasing electric cars, which last year accounted for nine out of 10 new cars sold in the country. Can other countries learn from it?

Oslo-based car dealership Harald A Møller has been importing Volkswagen cars for more than 75 years, but in early 2024 it said goodbye to fossil fuel cars.

Now all passenger cars for sale in the showroom are electric (EV).

“We think it is a mistake to advise a customer who comes here today to buy a car with an internal combustion engine, because the future is electric,” says CEO Ulf Tore Hickneby, as he walks through the cars on display. “Long range, high charging speed. It's hard to come back.”

On the streets of the Norwegian capital, Oslo, battery-powered cars are not a new thing, but rather the norm. Take a look around and you'll soon notice that almost every other car has an “E” for “electric” on its license plate.

The Nordic nation of 5.5 million has adopted electric vehicles faster than any other country and is about to become the first to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel cars.

Last year, the number of electric cars on Norway's roads exceeded the number of gasoline-powered cars For the first time. When diesel cars are included, electric cars account for nearly a third of all cars on Norwegian roads.

88.9% of new cars were sold in the country last year were electric vehicles, Up from 82.4% in 2023, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed.

In some months, sales of fully electric cars have reached 98%, with purchases of new gasoline or diesel cars fading.

By contrast, in the UK electric cars consist Only 20% of new car registrations in 2024. Although this was a record high, up from 16.5% in 2023.

In the United States, this number was Only 8% Last year, up from 7.6%.

Norway is undoubtedly a pioneer in the field of electric cars, but this electric revolution took three decades to complete.

“It actually started in the early 1990s,” says Kristina Boe, Secretary General of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, as she takes me around Oslo in an electric minivan.

“Little by little, cars with petrol and diesel engines were taxed more heavily, so they became much more expensive to buy, while electric cars were exempt from tax.”

Subsidies for electric vehicles were first introduced to help two early Norwegian EV manufacturers, Buddy (formerly Kewet) and TH!NK City. While these companies went out of business, incentives for environmentally friendly vehicles remained in place.

“Our goal is to see that it is always a good and viable option, choosing zero emissions,” says Norwegian Deputy Minister of Transport Cecilie Knebbe Kroglund.

Despite being a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims for all new cars sold to be “zero emissions”, starting sometime in 2025. A non-binding target was set in 2017, and that milestone is now within reach.

“We are getting close to the goal, and I believe we will reach this goal,” Kroglund adds. “I think we've already made the transition to passenger cars.”

The key to Norway's success, she explains, has been long-term and predictable policies.

Instead of banning combustion engine vehicles, the government guided consumer choices. In addition to penalizing fossil fuel vehicles with higher taxes and registration fees, value-added tax and import duties on low-emission cars have been abolished.

Then followed a series of perks, such as free parking, reduced road tolls, and access to bus lanes.

In comparison, the European Union plans to ban sales of new fossil fuel cars by 2035, and the current UK government wants to do so. Banning their sale in 2030.

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

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

“With all the incentives we have in Norway, with no taxes on electric vehicles, that was very important for us in terms of money,” he says while plugging his car into a charging station in the capital.

“In cold weather, the range is maybe 20% shorter, but with the extensive charging network we have here in Norway, that's not really a big issue,” Mr Fine adds. “You just have to change your mindset and charge when you can, not when you need to.”

Another driver, Merite Egesbo, says that in 2014 she was one of the first people in Norway to own a Tesla. “I really wanted a car that didn't cause pollution. It gave me a better conscience while driving.”

At Norwegian petrol stations, many fuel pumps have been replaced with fast charging points, and across Norway there are now more than 27,000 public charging devices.

This compares with 73699 in the UK – A country 12 times larger in terms of population.

This means that for every 100,000 people, Norway has 447 chargers while the UK has only 89. According to a recent report.

Tesla, Volkswagen and Toyota were the best-selling electric car brands in Norway last year. Meanwhile, Chinese-owned brands – such as MG, BYD, Polestar and XPeng – now together make up 10% of the market, according to the Norwegian Road Association.

Norway, unlike the United States and the European Union, has not imposed tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars.

“There is no reason why other countries cannot imitate Norway,” says Ms. Boe. However, she adds, it's all “about doing it in a way that can work in every country or market.”

She believes Norwegians care less about the environment than people anywhere else. “I don't think the green mentality has much to do with this. It's about strong policies, and people are gradually understanding that driving an electric car is possible.”

However, Norway is also a very wealthy country and, thanks to its huge oil and gas exports, has a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $1.7 trillion (£1.3 trillion). This means that it can more easily defray the costs of major infrastructure construction projects, and absorb the loss of tax revenues resulting from the sale of petrol and diesel cars and their fuel.

The province also has an abundance of renewable hydroelectricity, which represents 88% of its production capacity.

“A third of cars are now electric, and it will exceed 50% in a few years,” says Kjell-Werner Johansen of the Norwegian Center for Transport Research. “I think the government accepts that a few 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.”