Norway boasts the highest electric vehicle adoption rate in the world. Some 82% of latest automobile sales were EVs in Norway in 2023, according to the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV). As compared, 7.6% of latest automobile sales were electric in the U.S. last 12 months, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates. In the world’s largest auto market, China, 24% of latest automobile sales were EVs in 2023, according to the China Passenger Automobile Association.
“Our goal is that each one recent cars by 2025 shall be zero-emission vehicles,” said Ragnhild Syrstad, the state secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, “We expect we’re going to reach that goal.”
The Norwegian government began incentivizing the purchase of EVs back in the Nineteen Nineties with free parking, the use of bus lanes, no tolls and most significantly, no taxes on zero-emission vehicles. But it wasn’t until Tesla and other EV models became available about 10 years ago that sales began to take off, Syrstad said.
Norway’s capital, Oslo, can be electrifying its ferries, buses, semi trucks and even construction equipment. Gas pumps and parking meters are being replaced by chargers. It’s an electrical utopia of the future. Norway’s grid has been able to handle the influx of EVs to date due to its abundance of hydropower.
“Electric cars are perhaps a 3rd of the price of gasoline because we have now close to 100% hydropower. It’s low-cost. It’s available and renewable. In order that’s a giant advantage,” said Petter Haugneland, the assistant secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association.
CNBC flew across the globe to meet with experts, government officials and locals to learn the way the Scandinavian country pulled off such a high EV adoption rate.
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