Around 37% of all new personal vehicles sold in Norway last month were plug-in electric vehicles, according to recent reports.
That impressive figure didn’t just
arrive out of nowhere, of course, the plug-in electric vehicle market in
Norway has been growing rapidly in recent years — mostly as a result of
the strong incentives for those who purchase and use electric vehicles
(most notably free toll roads, exemption from a 25% VAT tax on new car
purchases, access to bus lanes, and free parking) combined with EV
technology maturing, a broad range of competitive EV options, and decades of EV awareness raising in Norway.
The better explain the effect of these
incentives, it’s worth noting here that 5% of Norway’s cars are now
electric, up from around 1% two years ago and nearly 0% before the
incentives were on offer. (There are now 100,00 zero-emissions vehicles
on the country’s roads.)
With recent trends in mind, Norway’s
transportation minister recently publicly stated that it was “realistic”
that sales of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles could cease
in the country by 2025.
The Economist
provides some further background: “Norway first introduced tax perks to
boost the electric-car market in the 1990s. But sales only sparked in
the past 5 years or so after slicker vehicles with better batteries
appeared. Now the country’s 5 million citizens constitute the most
developed national market for electric cars anywhere. Christina Bu, who
heads the country’s association for electric cars, expects 400,000
electric-only vehicles on the roads by 2020, and predicts 70% of new
sales will be of zero-emission cars. As range increases and price falls,
demand will rise faster.”
Another factor that will no doubt
greatly help to increase electric vehicle adoption rates in the country
is the improving availability of charging stations. One of the primary
barriers to large-scale electric vehicle adoption is the fact that
fast-charging stations aren’t as common as gas stations. As this
changes, adoption rates should increase. This is particularly a problem
in Norway, where many people live in apartments and don’t have access to
private garages
No comments:
Post a Comment