The number of electric cars on the road in Norway has outnumbered petrol-powered models for the first time, a specialist organisation announced on Tuesday, hailing it as “a historic transition”. Of the 2.8 million individual vehicles currently registered in the Scandinavian country, 754,303 are fully electric, compared to 753,905 petrol-powered, according to the Traffic Information Board (OFV).
Diesel models remain the most numerous, with almost a million units, but their market share is also rapidly declining. “This is a historic milestone that few people would have imagined ten years ago,” said Øyvind Solberg Thorsen, director of the OFV, in a press release.
“The electrification of the private vehicle fleet is progressing at a steady pace and Norway is rapidly moving towards the goal of becoming the first country in the world whose vehicle fleet will be dominated by electric cars,” he said.
More than 94% of new registrations in August
The Scandinavian country, paradoxically a major producer of hydrocarbons, has set itself the goal of selling only new emission-free cars, i.e. mainly electric, because the share of hydrogen is very marginal, from 2025, ten years earlier than in the EU. In August, driven in particular by the Tesla Model Y, fully electric cars accounted for 94.3% of new registrations, an unprecedented figure.
In order to achieve the electrification of road transport, one of the keys to meeting the country’s climate commitments, the Norwegian authorities have implemented an ultra-favorable taxation that makes these models very competitive with thermal and hybrid vehicles. The success of electricity in Norway contrasts with the difficulties observed in the rest of Europe. Sales of electric cars began to fall there from the end of 2023 and represent 12.5% of new car sales since the beginning of the year.
Source: BFM TV
