Norway – the EV capital of the world

“In 2020, 54 per cent of the new cars that were sold in Norway were EVs. And it is important to note that when we talk about EVs, we mean fully electric cars. Plug-in hybrids aren’t part of that number. If we included those like they do in many other countries, we would get to a whopping 74 per cent!” says Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association.

But why? The political goal is for the whole of the Norwegian car fleet to be zero-emission (electric or hydrogen) by 2025. Which means that there are all sorts of incentives to get people to go green: purchase subsidies, cheaper parking, tolls and ferry tickets, and access to bus and taxi lanes.

“But the maybe strongest incentive is that we heavily tax the purchase of polluting petrol and diesel cars”, Bu explains.

No wonder, then, that no other country in the world has more electric vehicles per capita.

Secondly, electric cars are cool! They don’t smell bad. They are silent. And you can drive them for several hundred kilometres before you need to charge them. Not that charging is a problem in Norway – we have more than 16,000 charging stations, including 3,300 fast chargers, all over the country. So no need for range anxiety.

The easiest way to locate a charging point is on a map provided by ladestasjoner.no. To make sure you have access to the charging stations, it is important to register with the major providers in advance. Norway has about ten of them.

“Even in the northernmost parts of Northern Norway – an area with huge distances, more reindeer than people, and really low temperatures in the wintertime – you can easily get around with an EV”, Christina Bu claims.

She goes on to say that in 2021, close to 40 new electric car models will be launched in Norway. “That is more than the new petrol, diesel, and plug-in hybrid models combined!”

If you want to go on a road trip through the country, you can easily rent an electric car from most rental companies. In Geiranger and Flåm, the company eMobility has even set up a rental service for a car/scooter hybrid with two seats and open sides. Perfect for environmental-friendly sightseeing!

But why stop there? Cruise the fjords and lakes or go whale-watching on electric boats, travel with electric cable cars up mountainsides, and hop on good old-fashioned metros and trams in the larger cities. Not to mention all the electric bikes you can rent. Visit a certified sustainable destination, or check out 10 green ways to explore Norway.

And the future? It’s electric, of course!