All new cars sold in Norway in 2024 were fully electric
Delhi Delhi: Nine out of ten new cars sold in Norway last year were battery-powered, registration data showed on Thursday, as the country moved towards its goal of adding only electric cars to the road by 2025.Data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed that fully electric vehicles accounted for 88.9 per cent of new cars sold in 2024, up from 82.4 per cent in 2023.The top-selling brands were Tesla, followed by Volkswagen and Toyota. Chinese EVs now account for about 10 per cent of new car sales.
“Norway will be the first country in the world to almost eliminate petrol and diesel engined cars from the new car market,” said Kristina Boo, head of the Norwegian EV Association. Oil producer Norway imposes high taxes on petrol and diesel cars, while exempting them from import and value-added taxes to make EVs more attractive, although some duties were set to be reintroduced in 2023. Experts said the policy has worked because it has been consistent over time, maintained by governments of different political ideologies.
“We often see in other countries that someone gives a tax incentive or exemption and then withdraws it,” Bu said. It also helps that Norway does not have an automaker lobby. “We are not a car-producing country … so in the past it was simpler to impose high taxes on cars,” said Ulf Tore Hacneby, head of Norway’s biggest car importer Harald A. Moller. Bu said it was also important to offer incentives rather than ban petrol and diesel cars. “That would have angered people. People don’t like being told what to do,” he said.
The European Union has decided to ban the sale of carbon-dioxide emitting cars by 2035, but it may allow the sale of cars that run on fuel made from captured CO2. Norway’s policies mean that fully electric cars overtook pure petrol cars on Norwegian roads last year. As of December, more than 28 percent of all cars driven in the Nordic country were electric, according to data from the Public Roads Administration. “That’s the biggest lesson: create a comprehensive package of incentives and make it predictable in the long term,” said Deputy Transport Minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund.
