Norway is fast-paced in electric car adoption
It is good to note that Norway, an oil-producing country, has adopted the electric car as a model of the future.
The new Volkswagen ID.3 was the bestselling car has 12.8% of sales, beating the Tesla Model 3 and the Polestar 2 in September.
On the other hand, the news is out the Tesla Model 3 just surpassed the Tesla Model S in Norway in terms of all-time sales.
The Model 3 had 21,070 all-time sales in the country and the Model S had 21,069.
NOTE: Norway’s crude oil production in October 2020 averaged 1.611 million bpd, according to the latest figures of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD)
While the Model 3 is not yet the all-time bestseller in the Norwegian EV market, which is surprising, the Nissan LEAF has more than 3 times as many sales.
The Volkswagen e-Golf has more than twice as many sales than Tesla’s Model 3, and even the BMW i3 is selling more cars.
NORWAY AHEAD
According to New Motion, Norway is currently leading the way in EV ownership in Europe.
“In fact, plug-in electric vehicles accounted for more than 33% of new car registrations last year and Norway also has the largest share of full-electric vehicles in the world,” the website says.
Charging the EV is always an issue and it it a major hurdle for many countries.
But in 2008, Oslo launched its first municipal EV charging infrastructure program.
This made it one of the first cities in the world to do so, putting Norway far ahead of its European neighbours in terms of EV-supporting infrastructure.
TAXATION
Norway also has a series of incentives and benefits – including big reductions in purchase and road tax for EVs.
Electric cars also enjoy cuts of at least 50% to parking, toll road and ferry charges in Norway.
From next year, Norway will increase the road tax rate for electric vehicles – which currently benefit from discounts of up to 90%.
But this will not deter the Norwegians from buying EVs, says most of the news sources.
Even with the slightly higher taxes, electric vehicles will still be cheaper to own than fossil-fuel cars, says the World Economic Forum.