Norway's secret to EV success
This is what you (probably) don’t know about EVs in Norway: In August of this year, no less than 94% of all new car sales in Norway were electric vehicles (EVs). That’s a staggering statistic and a very big contrast with EV sales in the rest of Europe, where high prices and insufficient infrastructure have restricted the adoption.
In the European Union, for example, electric cars represented only 12.1% of new car sales in July, lagging far behind petrol and hybrid vehicles.
So why is this gap in EV adoption so huge?
Well, on the one hand, Norway offers generous tax benefits which make electric models more competitively priced than in other regions. But that’s only a small part of the story. Our CEO Patrick Vanbrabandt wanted to offer some more nuance, describing a context that is very often left out of the conversation. One that makes Norway’s situation unique in ways that cannot simply be copied.
Norway is an energy goldmine. First of all, it harbours an incredible amount of water. The result is that approximately 96 per cent of all its electricity is generated by renewable hydropower. This has given Norwegian citizens and companies stable access to inexpensive, clean energy and, thus, very cheap “fuel” for their EVs.
But here’s the ironic part: while its own citizens and businesses can be very green and clean because of this abundance of renewable hydropower, Norway is also one of Europe’s major oil and gas producers. It uses very little of these resources locally, but sells it to other countries, which obviously allows it to make a lot of money. This in turn also allows it to hand out very generous tax incentives for EV cars so that it will be able to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2025. Which is 10 years ahead of the EU goal.
Obviously, it’s great that EV car sales are booming in Norway, compared to petrol and hybrid vehicles. The energy transition in the sector is much needed. But we must also understand that the Norway model cannot just be copy-pasted to other countries, as the reasons above prove. Each country has its very own energy DNA and that makes each EV adoption story a different one.
So why is this gap in EV adoption so huge?
Well, on the one hand, Norway offers generous tax benefits which make electric models more competitively priced than in other regions. But that’s only a small part of the story. Our CEO Patrick Vanbrabandt wanted to offer some more nuance, describing a context that is very often left out of the conversation. One that makes Norway’s situation unique in ways that cannot simply be copied.
Norway is an energy goldmine. First of all, it harbours an incredible amount of water. The result is that approximately 96 per cent of all its electricity is generated by renewable hydropower. This has given Norwegian citizens and companies stable access to inexpensive, clean energy and, thus, very cheap “fuel” for their EVs.
But here’s the ironic part: while its own citizens and businesses can be very green and clean because of this abundance of renewable hydropower, Norway is also one of Europe’s major oil and gas producers. It uses very little of these resources locally, but sells it to other countries, which obviously allows it to make a lot of money. This in turn also allows it to hand out very generous tax incentives for EV cars so that it will be able to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2025. Which is 10 years ahead of the EU goal.
Obviously, it’s great that EV car sales are booming in Norway, compared to petrol and hybrid vehicles. The energy transition in the sector is much needed. But we must also understand that the Norway model cannot just be copy-pasted to other countries, as the reasons above prove. Each country has its very own energy DNA and that makes each EV adoption story a different one.
