Norway became the first country in the world in 2020 where electric cars accounted for more than half of new registrations, a step that puts it on track to its goal of decarbonising all new vehicles by 2025.
According to the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), despite the covid-19 pandemic, electric vehicles had a market share of 54.3% last year, compared to 42.4% the previous year.
Unprecedented in the world, sales accelerated at the end of the year, and in December the market share of electric cars reached a new monthly record of 66.7%.
The four best-selling new models in the country (Audi e-tron, Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen ID.3 and Nissan Leaf) are all powered by electricity.
The fifth, the Volkswagen Golf, has a rechargeable version, but the statistics do not differentiate between the different types of engines.
“This is a very positive trend,” said Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Association of Electric Vehicles, which promotes the “zero emissions” premise.
“We are on track to meet the 2025 targets,” he added. Norway, which is paradoxically the largest producer of hydrocarbons in Western Europe, has the ambition to make all its new cars “zero emissions” from that year.
To achieve its goal, the Nordic country is pursuing an extremely advantageous fiscal policy, although it has begun to reduce some of the privileges granted to electric cars, such as free city taxes or the possibility of using public transport corridors.
Unlike diesel or petrol cars, which are subject to very high taxes, rechargeable vehicles are exempt from virtually all types of taxes, which makes them more competitive at the time of purchase.
Fossil energy and electricity
Hybrid vehicles, which combine fossil fuel and electricity, increased their sales in 2020, with a market share of 29.1% compared to 25.9% in 2019.
Despite this unmatched performance, the Norwegian Association of Electric Vehicles says that last year electricity was expected to account for almost 60% of the market. “We would have succeeded if it weren’t for the coronavirus,” said Christina Bu, “but the virus delayed several launches.”
For the current year, the association claims to have a market share of 65%. “For the first time, the number of launches of electric models (which could be around 40) is expected to exceed that of other vehicles, including rechargeable hybrids,” Bu said.
But even though it is progressing at record levels, the electrification of the Norwegian car fleet is still very progressive. At the end of 2019, 9% of the country’s vehicles were running on electricity.
On the other hand, the advantages granted to the purchase of electric vehicles have a cost for the state savings banks as well. According to the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, last year the loss of tax revenue was almost 20 billion kroner (about 2.33 billion dollars).