1. Home
  2. Electric Vehicles
  3. World’s First: EVs Beat Petrol, Diesel Sales In Norway, Here’s How They Did It And We Can Too
World’s First: EVs Beat Petrol, Diesel Sales In Norway, Here’s How They Did It And We Can Too

World’s First: EVs Beat Petrol, Diesel Sales In Norway, Here’s How They Did It And We Can Too

15
0

Norway, a Scandinavian country covered with snow-capped mountains and glaciers, is widely considered to be the leader in the ongoing transition to electric vehicles (EVs). For the first time in history now, the country’s automobile sales have displayed its strong adoption of EVs, as the sale of electric powered vehicles outnumbered that of gas or diesel models.

The sale of zero-emission vehicles accounted for 58% of the total vehicles sold in Norway. The sales numbers have been provided by Norway’s Road Traffic Information Council, or OFV. As per the numbers, 18,375 new cars were registered in the country in March and 10,732 of those were zero-emission vehicles.

As for the models that helped these numbers peak, Tesla Model 3 came out to be the leader, with 5,315 Model 3 sedans being registered in March alone. This also set a record for the highest sales of a particular car model in a single month. In addition to the Model 3,3,469 hybrid passenger cars were also sold in March this year, a 10% drop in the numbers from March last year. Meanwhile, the sales of gas and diesel cars dropped to a record low.

What made electric car sales possible?

In short, a ton of incentives on electric vehicles. These incentives come in the form of 25% Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption as well as exemption from carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and weight taxes on gas and diesel vehicles. As per the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, the zero-emission car owners also get discounts on parking, toll roads and ferries.

The result is easily visible for the world to learn from. It also aligns with the country’s own ambitious goal of completely shifting to a zero-emission transport by 2025. As per International Trade Association, Norway was the 10th largest market for US vehicle exports in 2018 with a total of $821 million in sales. For 2019, the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association estimates that EVs will make up about 50% of the country’s car sales.

Norway Electric Car Sales, Norway Electric Vehicle Sales, Norway EV Sales, Norway Electric Vehicles,
(IMAGE: REUTERS)

What we can learn from Norway’s electric car sales

Similar incentives are being handed out by other nations as well. In fact, all the nations pursuing an increased use of EVs for their transportation needs are dealing with it in their own way. China recently cut down on the incentives and subsidies offered to auto makers for the production of EVs. The reason being, it did not want the OEMs to rely on the government’s money to come up with substantial products.

Norway, as it seems, had it all figured out when the need to embrace EVs was on the rise. The country was bullish on the required infrastructure for the transition, installing charging stations nationwide as well as boosting the R&D towards making their more efficient. Recently, Norway announced that it will be testing the world’s first wireless charging station. All these efforts, coupled with incentives to the public opting for EVs as well as opening its market for foreign players to bring in good products in the country has certainly put Norway in the leading position in this pursuit of zero emission vehicles.

Source: indiatimes
Anand Gupta Editor - EQ Int'l Media Network

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *