Environmental and climate concern are a crucial part of Norway’s national policy. Despite being a top 10 of petroleum producer in this world (Norway is the 8^th largest oil producer and 3^rd largest gas producer) , 99% electricity production in  Norway comes from hydropower which is both cheap and clean. [1]

Under the Paris Agreement in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Norway is committed to cut green house gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. So, One of  five priority areas for Norway’s climate policy is to reduce emissions from transport sector. [2] 

Consequently, the adoption and deployment of zero emission vehicles in Norway has been driven since the 1990s. The government has been encouraging the adoption electric vehicles (EVs) through many schemes. As shown in Figure 1 , The number of electric cars in Norway increased significantly during the past decade. 

Figure 1  Registrations of light-duty plug-in electric vehicles in Norway by year 2004-2018 (new and used imports) [3]

Norway’s goal is to become the first country to get 100% all-electric cars on its roads by 2025 [4] is not far to reach. According to Norwegian Road Federation (OFV),  56% of new registered vehicles in 2019 [5] was EVs and last month (March 2020)  

EVs hit a new high  of 75% market share compared with Diesel and Petrol are only 10% and 7% respectively. [Figure 2] It can be said that today no other country in the world has more electric vehicles per capita than Norway.[6] 

Figure 2  March 2020 Norway Passenger Auto Registrations [7]

Practically, it is not easy to convince consumers or companies who have been using a petrol or diesel-powered vehicle to switch to electric powered vehicle. Many attractive incentives have been provided for example, regulatory, tax exemption, government subsidies or other benefits depending on each country’s strategy. [8]

For Norway, Electric cars , Battery and Fuel Cell are exempted from Ownership tax, Registration tax, Value added tax (VAT), Road Usage tax and a reduced rate in the Annual tax. [9]   

Figure 3 , Comparing total costs for 4 years in buying a new gasoline or diesel car (Volkswagen Golf) with EV cars. ((Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) & Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)), It can be concluded that purchasing electric car can save your money than conventional cars.

Figure 3  Four-year consumer ownership costs including 3-year tax on company car benefit (€1 = 9.578 NOK, as of May 14, 2018) [10]

Moreover, other benefits have been offered for EVs owners such as enable to access to bus/taxi lanes, free toll passage, free parking fees in city centers, a rebate on car ferry crossings etc. Ease to find charging stations (more than 10,000 stations (2018) [11] and also no cost to charge car battery would be the key to enabling EVs to be widely purchase and used by Norwegian consumers.

References:

[1] Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.(2020).Oil and Gas.

https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/energy/oil-and-gas/id1003

[2] Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. Norway’s Seventh National Communication Under the Framework Convention on Climate Change Report (Publication number: T-1563 E)

https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/321045_Norway-NC7-BR3-2-Norways_seventh_national_communication.pdf

[3] Ortiz, R.D.M. (2020, April 25). Registration of plug-in electric vehicles in Norway by year between 2004 and 2018. In Wikipedia. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway#/media/File:Registrations_EVs_Norway_2004_2013.png

[4] International Energy Agency. (2019, May). Global EV Outlook 2019. Clean Energy Ministerial, and Electric Vehicles Initiative.

https://webstore.iea.org/global-ev-outlook-2019

[5] Dow, J. (2020, January 3). 56% of Norway’s new cars had a plug in 2019, Tesla Model 3 overall best-seller. Electrek.

https://electrek.co/2020/01/03/56-norway-cars-plug-in-2019-tesla-model-3-best-overall

[6] Fleming, S. (2019, March 21). These countries have the highest share of electric vehicles. World Economic Forum.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/chart-of-the-day-half-of-new-cars-sold-in-norway-are-electric-or-hybrid

[7] Holland, Dr. M. (2020, April 2). Norway EV Market Share Breaks All Records — 75% Of Vehicles Sold Have Plugs!. Cleantechnica.

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/02/norway-ev-market-share-breaks-all-records-75-of-vehicles-sold-have-plugs/

[8] Volkswagen AG (2019, May 28). How electric car incentives around the world work. 

https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2019/05/how-electric-car-incentives-around-the-world-work.html

[9] Norsk elbilforening. Norwegian EV policy.

https://elbil.no/english/norwegian-ev-policy

[10] Hanley, S.(2019, February 4). Report : Electric Cars Already Cheaper To Own In Europe Than Gas/Diesel Cars. Cleantechnica.

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/02/14/report-electric-cars-already-cheaper-to-own-in-europe-than-gas-diesel-cars

[11] Stoll J.(2019, August 9). Number of charging stations for electric cars in Norway from 2011 to 2018, by type. Statista. 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/696548/number-of-electric-car-charging-stations-in-norway-by-type