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Already about half the cars being sold in Norway are electric. The country is so well-stocked with charging stations that it is promoting tourism opportunities to electric vehicle owners (archive). The Norwegian Automotive Association even has an electric vehicle tourist guide for the country. Some toll roads and the ubiquitous ferries there give discounts to electric cars. Depending on the region, parking may even be free of charge.
From Wired:
Norway's forward-thinking approach to transportation has become not just a point of pride for the country but a bona fide means of attracting tourism. The Norwegian government even maintains a website dedicated to encouraging EV aficionados to visit. That's not crazy: Ecotourism and sustainable travel of this type have grown significantly in recent years. So just like you might go to Botswana for an ethical safari, or to British Columbia for the legal weed and immense preserves of old growth redwoods, you can head to Norway to immerse yourself in a unique landscape and culture, and simultaneously experience what the world can be like when people work together to solve big problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 09 2019, @03:04AM (5 children)
This article [elbil.no] explains that popularity of EVs in Norway is not caused by Norwegians being especially in love with moving electrons. It is caused by a political decision of the government that pays a part of country's oil wealth back to people, as long as those people buy electric cars.
In practice, given Norwegian nature, weather and size, one would rather burn gas, as that is warmer and safer, and you can always carry extra with you. Some locations, despite the massive government program to construct chargers, still have no charging points. Other locations are in the middle of nowhere. But cities and major roads are covered.
This is all nice and good, of course. Governments are welcome to pay taxpayers instead of burning through the funds. I guess it is good to live pampered life in oil-rich Norway with population of just 5.3 million. They can afford many things. But it would be unwise to apply their situation to other countries. Maybe Saudis can do a similar thing - they already keep their population well financed. Maybe Kuwait. Hardly anyone else qualifies.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 09 2019, @03:33AM
The recent imports will find ways to spend that money. New buildings to replace ones blown apart by grenades. New female only swimming pools. Lawyers, hush money, mental health facilities for the misguided arrivals who need help distinguishing free sex walking around flaunting their whorish ways from upstanding fully covered second class citizens, and grief counselling for the war stressed men so impacted by fighting in their homeland they need to repeat these horrors of war in their newly adopted home. Do-it-yourself-at-home abortion kits for preteens and their multiple voluntary 50yo+ "boyfriends". Funding for another anti-rape campaign to teach children how to dress so as not to be guilty of provoking sexual assault. A LGBTI information effort to educate people in Norway that throwing gay men off of buildings is wrong. A DNA matching service for preteens to help them discover who the father of their child is and prepare them for explaining to the child why their father was granted custody. Funding for a new public holiday to celebrate Eid. A new program to fence off No Go areas and route traffic around.
So many new projects in Norway these days.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday July 09 2019, @04:58AM
It also helps when your electricity is essentially all hydro.
It's like they have resources, and don't squander them, or something.
Odd...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by julian on Tuesday July 09 2019, @05:16AM (1 child)
Norway's per capita income is higher than the USA, [wolframalpha.com] but not that much higher. They are both "wealthy" nations. And in terms of overall amount of wealth we can throw at a problem the USA is way ahead. If Norway is able to electrify their fleet of automobiles but the USA is not, it is for political reasons. I suspect that the oil industry in Norway has a lot of clout and sway with the government, as in the USA, but unlike the USA there doesn't seem to be the same level of corruption, anti-intellectualism, nor do they have half of the electorate hypnotized into believing climate change is a Chinese hoax--or not caused primarily by human activity, or not actually a bad thing, or whatever level of obscurantism the GOP is at on this particular day.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 09 2019, @05:50AM
I'm not sure if the climate change has anything to do with their decision. The EV infrastructure is energy-intensive to build, and there are ongoing power losses at every step. Overall an EV is more efficient, but not significantly more. The cold climate is particularly bad for an EV, as heating visibly shortens the range. So this change is not going to affect the climate. Furthermore, Norway might benefit from a decent global warming, being a northern country.
Does anyone from Norway who followed the government's decisions know what is the true cause of favorable taxation of electric cars? Teslas in particular are fragile in the sense that everything in them is monitored OTA, serviced only by Tesla, across the Atlantic Ocean and the diagonal of the United States. This is a fair weather car - it works only if everything is peachy. This is a strategic vulnerability of the country - and that same country is growing a source of a near-future conflict [city-journal.org]. The fair weather may not last for long.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Tuesday July 09 2019, @08:52AM
They are only rich as long as they can sell oil to other countries, but oil is going out of fashion. However Norway can generate electricity for next to nothing as they have so much hydro.