Norway's electric cars zip to new record: almost a third of all sales

In a bid to cut carbon emissions and air pollution, Norway exempts battery-driven cars from most taxes and offers benefits such as free parking and charging points to hasten a shift from diesel and petrol engines.

The independent Norwegian Road Federation (NRF) said on Wednesday that electric cars rose to 31.2 percent of all sales last year, from 20.8 percent in 2017 and just 5.5 percent in 2013, while sales of petrol and diesel cars plunged. “It was a small step closer to the 2025 goal,” by which time Norway’s parliament wants all new cars to be emissions-free, Oeyvind Solberg Thorsen, head of the NRF, told a conference.

Still, he cautioned that there was a long way to go since two-thirds of almost 148,000 cars sold in 2018 in Norway were powered by fossil fuel or were hybrids, which have both battery power and an internal combustion engine.

Norway's electric cars zip to new record: almost a third of all sales

The use of electric cars really works in Norway because most of, if not all of their electricity is produced without using fossil fuels or even nuclear power.

Hydropower generation capacity is around 31 GW in 2014, when 131 TWh was produced; about 95% of total production. Of the total production in 2011 of 128 TWh; 122 TWh was from hydroelectric plants, 4795 GWh was from thermal power, and 1283 GWh was wind generated.

In the same year, the total consumption was 114 TWh. Hydro production can vary 60 TWh between years, depending on amount of precipitation, and the remaining hydro potential is about 34 TWh.

Electricity sector in Norway

Tax cuts aren't supposed to work in socialist countries.

What the hell is going on?

a reply to: NthOther

Another reason Norway is awesome. Wish their model would come over here - I'm personally sick of the same old same old junk we get. Also, electric cars are neat, and one step closer to those flying cars, personal jet packs and Lunar vacations I was promised as a kid.

a reply to: NthOther

It works because its democratic socialism .

Oh the humanity...

It's a good thing trump is bringing back coal industry!!

2020maga and beyond

Oh lovely. Norway punishes people for buying gas driven cars and hails the fact that people try to avoid the punishment as evidence that electric cars are so clearly superior.

(I don't hate electric cars or environmentalism. I hate big government bludgeoning people into compliance)

I thought the so-called "Nordic-model" wasn't abusive. Yes. I'm sorry. It sure is abusive to use your tax code to punish people for their lifestyle choices and to coerce people into changing their lifestyles to suit your whims.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

The US does the same kind of things with it's tax code. That is one of the reasons the fair tax would be a lot better.

Some states like Indiana and Michigan jack up the tax on electric cars because they are losing revenue at the pump. They say it's for "road repairs", as a former truck driver, I can tell you, the commercial trucks alone generate more than enough on fuel tax for road repairs than the 4 wheelers. Granted, not all trucks drive on all the roads, but like I said, they generate far more than enough for the whole state.

Electric cars should be encouraged not penalized, I say good on Norway

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: BrianFlanders

The US does the same kind of things with it's tax code. That is one of the reasons the fair tax would be a lot better.

Oh I have a much more hard opinion of taxes than that. I think if you're going to call yourself a free country, people should be free to opt out of taxes entirely. This way the government would have to bend to the will of the people. They would not have a choice if they wanted funds. A satisfied customer is a repeat customer. A government that can tax you whether you like what it's doing or not does not have to care whether you like what it's doing or not. They can give you the runaround by telling you that you can vote them out if you don't like it. Yeah, try it. Vote until the cows come home and they'll still do exactly as they please because voting is a joke and they have a zillion drones to fill the slots in the government and you'll vote for one of them no matter what.

Just imagine if (say) Amazon had the legal right so that they could decide what you buy without your consent, charge you for it and ship it to you and there was nothing you could do about it. What incentive would they have to care what you think about it?

Of course this is complete fantasy. You will never have the lawful right to refuse to pay taxes unless you refuse to work. And then you will lose your right to live because you'll either starve to death or die from exposure. So, of course, in the end, taxation is (effectively) just another form of slavery.

originally posted by: Majestic Lumen
Some states like Indiana and Michigan jack up the tax on electric cars because they are losing revenue at the pump. They say it's for "road repairs", as a former truck driver, I can tell you, the commercial trucks alone generate more than enough on fuel tax for road repairs than the 4 wheelers. Granted, not all trucks drive on all the roads, but like I said, they generate far more than enough for the whole state.

Electric cars should be encouraged not penalized, I say good on Norway

Electric cars do not need to be encouraged as soon as they become more practical and affordable than gas. Of course this would require them to be more practical and affordable to design and manufacture as well. Which they aren't. Yet. Reality does not align with the environmentalist's argument at the moment. Pollution and bad environmental practices are not suffocating the human race out of existence (at least not yet). Harvesting fossil fuels is (for now) still more practical and affordable and expedient than redesigning the wheel. So of course manufacturers are reluctant to change. It doesn't make any sense from a business standpoint. Unless the government forces them to. If the government can force a car manufacturer to do exactly as it's told, the government can force you to eat exactly what they tell you to eat, poop when they tell you to poop, test your poop, sleep when they tell you to sleep and so on and so forth. On and on.

While it seems awesome at first glance that a government can be powerful enough to force this kind of thing, it starts to look a little less awesome when you start to ask "If they can do this, what can't they do?"

America has many millions of cars. How many of them can be electric before it's impossible to mine the raw materials for the batteries? They also wear out just like any other machine. How hard is it to recycle stuff like lithium? How hard is it to make sure every battery gets recycled? How much pollution is generated by the manufacture, shipping, charging and recycling of batteries? How much plastic is in an electric car? Do you know what plastic is made out of? How much aluminum is in an electric car? Do you know that aluminum is one of the most energy intensive metals to manufacture? What are tires made out of? So on and so forth.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

I can't link from my phone, but have you read an article titled " who killed the electric car " in the 90s in the U. S there was a very successful electric car produced, it was killed off because of the impact it would have on the fossil fuel industry and car manufacturers.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: BrianFlanders

I can't link from my phone, but have you read an article titled " who killed the electric car " in the 90s in the U. S there was a very successful electric car produced, it was killed off because of the impact it would have on the fossil fuel industry and car manufacturers.

Right. The fossil fuel industry has as much right to exist and protect it's interests as any other industry does. It is entrenched because it was here first. It makes more financial sense for them to maintain doing what they've been doing. Nature will eventually force them to change. I'm averse to the government being a more powerful force than nature.

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: BrianFlanders

I can't link from my phone, but have you read an article titled " who killed the electric car " in the 90s in the U. S there was a very successful electric car produced, it was killed off because of the impact it would have on the fossil fuel industry and car manufacturers.

Yeah it's one of the most depressing documentaries I've ever watched. Essentially, we should be totally non-reliant on oil by now. This would untie us from foreign influence (who export their oil to us), and also be cleaner for the earth. Unfortunately the petrol industry has many movers in government that prevent any quick resolution from occurring.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Which is Ironic, considering Norway's main export and country's income is from exporting OIL!! and petroleum products.

They have become a very rich country, for their minuscule 5 Million citizen population.....all because of Oil.

Most of them live in a couple of small cities, with vast open lands....so they are city cars mainly, one would think.

But good on them, now lets see them stop their oil production........

And BTW, It seems pretty obvious that the financial impact of the various industries attempting to adapt to electric/hybrid vehicles is being passed onto the end consumer in a big way. It's unbelievable how expensive the average new car is now. Whether it's electric or gas you almost can't buy anything that's worth having for under 30 grand. And even at that it would probably be a fairly basic one without many options. Pretty soon you'll have to take out a second mortgage so you can buy a car. I mean, for some people, it's been that way for years. There have been several dramatic explosions in new car prices but there has been a fairly recent one too.

I am not sure i would want to be driving around Norway in the winter relying on an electric car for heat. They should have required hybrids with a large gas tax to encourage using electric.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

Oh lovely. Norway punishes people for buying gas driven cars

How did they punish them?

a reply to: BrianFlanders

Of course this would require them to be more practical and affordable to design and manufacture as well. Which they aren't.

Proof?

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

www.automostory.com...

In 1842, both Thomas Davenport and Robert Anderson invented practical electric cars. Both inventors used electric batteries that were non-rechargeable. In 1865, Gaston Plante of France invented rechargeable lead-acid batteries that made electric cars more practical.

By 1900, electric cars were commonplace making up 28-percent of the marketplace

a reply to: BrianFlanders

It's a hardly a competitive market if the government can side with an industry to the detriment of another, that's a communist ideal that is very destructive .