https://pluginamerica.org/40-percent-ev-ownership-looks-norwegian/
02.14.2018 - by Joel Levin
What Does 40% EV Market Share Look Like? Hint: It Looks Norwegian
I have just returned from attending the Nordic EV Summit in Oslo,
Norway. Remarkably, more than 700 people attended from 33 countries to
learn about what has been achieved with electric vehicles in Norway.
The conference was hosted by the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association,
TU, Electric Mobility Norway, and Nordic Energy Research and included
representatives from electric car driver associations in Belgium, Costa
Rica, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Scotland, and Sweden. Who knew that
Plug In America had so many brothers and sisters around the globe?
Norway has been a leader on electric cars ever since Th!nk, a Norwegian
all-electric car company founded in the 1990s. But the Norwegians have
continued to push ahead as world leaders on electric cars and with that
push, its market has grown steadily. In December, for the first time,
more than 50% of all cars sold in the country were plug-ins. They have
now moved well beyond the early adopters phase and into the mass-market
segment, the only country in the world to do so. And this has all
happened relatively quickly.
Norway has achieved this, in part, through generous benefits for EV
drivers. They are exempt from VAT (sales tax), import tax, parking fees,
tolls, and ferry charges. Gasoline is also exorbitantly expensive. With
all of these benefits, they have roughly equalized the cost of EVs and
gasoline cars. In my discussions with authorities on the Norwegian EV
market, they argued that there are two take-away lessons for other
countries. First, when EVs compete on a truly level playing field with
other cars, sales can quickly take off and move into the mass market,
and second; the whole argument that EVs are not practical in a cold,
northern climate is baloney.
The country has a goal to be the first in the world to eliminate sales
of new combustion engine cars, by 2025, and it seems likely that they
will succeed. Interestingly enough, Norway currently has no domestic
auto industry. All cars are imported—and the importers have not been
able to keep up with demand. Dealers are rarely able to keep vehicles on
the lot, so Norwegians are used to ordering their EVs and
waiting—sometimes a year or two—to get their cars. OFV estimates the
waiting list for cars expected to be delivered this year is already
33,000, about the same as total sales in 2017, suggesting that 2018 will
be another banner year for EVs in Norway and keep them on track for
their gasoline car phase out.
Check out this Norwegian EV Association presentation from the conference
with more data on Norway’s electric car market.
[https://pluginamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Nordic-EV-Summit-1.2-Feb-2018.pdf]
