Electric cars hit record 54% of sales in Norway as VW overtakes Tesla:
Norway is using huge tax incentives to help ensure that every new passenger car and van sold in the country by the end of 2025 is a zero-emission vehicle. Record electric vehicle sales in 2020 means the country is now ahead of schedule, according to Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, CEO of the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV).
The market share of electric cars in Norway increased to 54% in 2020 from 42% the previous year, according to data published by OFV on Tuesday. When hybrid vehicles are included, the share of electrified vehicles hit 83% last year.
Petrol and diesel cars, which had a combined market share of 71% in 2015, now have just 17%.
According to Reuters:
Norway became the first country in the world where the sale of electric cars has overtaken those powered by petrol, diesel and hybrid engines last year, with the German carmaker Volkswagen replacing Tesla as the top battery-vehicle producer, data shows.
[...] Seeking to become the first nation to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, oil-producing Norway exempts fully electric vehicles from taxes imposed on those relying on fossil fuels.
(Score: 2) by slinches on Wednesday January 06 2021, @04:58PM (3 children)
Norway heavily taxes new ICE vehicles and subsidizes EVs in multiple ways. So EVs really should be doing much better than half of new sales.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bmimatt on Wednesday January 06 2021, @05:28PM (2 children)
They see the results of warming first hand, at least they're trying to do something they can do locally about it. Good on them.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2021, @05:48PM (1 child)
You do know where Norway gets its money, right? From exporting petroleum. Yeah, they care SOOO much about global warming. Very enlightened.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Wednesday January 06 2021, @07:49PM
Well, petroleum is the basic stuff for much of the things you wear, or use -- and somebody has to pump that up.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 06 2021, @06:42PM (1 child)
According to the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] on Norway's Electricity sector, the country gets 95% of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, and the rest from other renewable sources, with the exception of a coal fired plant on one remote island and a gas plant. The data only goes to 2009, but by then it looks like they were already producing more power than they needed and exported the rest to Sweden.
If that's the case, it makes sense for Norway to encourage drivers to choose EVs over ICEs. It gives them complete energy and transportation independence. That's an enviable geopolitical advantage.
It's true that Norway pays for a lot of its social programs with revenues from North Sea oil, but it looks like the country itself doesn't need any of that petroleum. Morally it's a bit hypocritical, but in realpolitik terms they're winning twice.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday January 06 2021, @06:54PM
It is a business policy, not a "moral" one, though the angle does play well with targeted audiences.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2021, @08:14PM (1 child)
Wat?
Someone should tell the stock market!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 06 2021, @08:49PM
Watch out -- Musk might notice and buy out VW (leveraged of course against his paper winnings on T stock).
Yes, this is a joke, in reality I believe that a good chunk of VW is owned by the German state they are in, is this still true? That state is very unlikely to sell.
(Score: 1, Troll) by legont on Thursday January 07 2021, @05:37AM
It's interesting to watch a backward country that got temporary rich on oil sales. Just a few years back they were the poorest in Europe and now they have the biggest military per capita and the boldest policy against oil. Do they really believe t's going to end well...
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.