Norway has had massive success with EV adoption — 82% of latest cars sold in the country in 2023 were electric, in keeping with the Norwegian Road Federation. This high adoption rate might be attributed to the generous subsidies the Scandinavian country has offered to electric vehicle owners in addition to its investment in charging infrastructure.
Tesla’s sales in the country may represent only a sliver of the 1.8 million vehicles the company delivered globally last yr, but its importance to the EV maker goes beyond revenue. Tesla’s early foothold there has made Norway a pivotal proving ground for the company and a national model for electric vehicle transition. Because of this, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken plenty of trips to the small Nordic country and has often praised its support for the technology change.
Norwegians were the first European customers to receive deliveries of the Tesla Model S in 2013. In April of 2014, Tesla broke Norway’s record for many monthly sales of a single model, electric or gas, with its Model S. Today, the top-selling model is Tesla’s Model Y. Tesla accounted for about 20% of all vehicles sold in the country last yr, in keeping with Norwegian Road Federation.
But with competition from other EV automakers including Toyota, Skoda, Volkswagen and BYD heating up, it stays to be seen if Norwegians will proceed to favor Tesla in the future.
CNBC traveled to Norway to satisfy with local people, government officials and experts to learn the way Tesla has change into so successful in the Scandinavian country. Watch the video for the full story.