Norway is definitely one step ahead of electric cars. These represented nearly 80% of new registrations of new passenger cars in Norway last year, according to figures presented Monday by a specialized body. A new world record.
Driven by the American Tesla, at the top of the manufacturer rankings with 12.2% of the market, 138,265 new electric cars were sold last year in the Scandinavian country, i.e. 79.3% of total sales of new passenger vehicles, said the Road Traffic Information Council (FOV).
Big producer of hydrocarbons… but champion of the zero-emission car
In doing so, Norway, which is both a major hydrocarbon producer and a zero-emission car champion, smashed its own record set in 2021 (64.5%). By way of comparison, electric represented 8.6% of new registrations in the European Union in the first nine months of 2022.
In December alone, all-electric cars captured 82.8% of sales as Norwegian households rushed ahead of a tax change that made their purchase more expensive.
Tesla is popular
Tesla’s Model Y was the best-selling vehicle last year, accounting for one in ten new registrations, ahead of the ID.4 (Volkswagen) and Enyaq (Skoda), both also electric. With more than 17,000 copies sold, Elon Musk’s group can boast of having broken the local sales record held since 1969 by the legendary Volkswagen Beetle.
Norway aims for all its new cars to be zero emission – all-electric or hydrogen – from 2025, thanks in particular to ultra-favorable taxation.
“Eight out of ten people opting for all-electric rather than combustion engines, this is a significant step towards Norway reaching its climate target of 100% sales of BEVs (battery electric vehicles, editor’s note) by 2025” , commented Christina Bu, general secretary of the Norwegian Association of Electric Vehicles.
Aid that is beginning to be reduced
“Our message to the rest of the world is clear: there is no longer any excuse to accept the unnecessary pollution of internal combustion engines when it is so urgent to solve the climate crisis”, she added in a statement.
As the electric segment has matured, the Norwegian authorities have begun to trim certain advantages which weigh heavily on the public accounts. In 2022, the shortfall in tax revenue for the State was estimated at nearly 40 billion crowns (3.8 billion euros).
Since January 1, the exemption from VAT (at a rate of 25%) on the acquisition of a new electric vehicle is thus only valid within the limit of a purchase price of 500,000 crowns, the sums above this ceiling being subject to the tax.
A tax on new vehicles has also been modified to take account of their weight and also applies to electric models. Today, one in five cars on Norwegian roads is fully electric, another world record.