Electric cars in Norway accounted for nearly half of newly registered cars in September 2018. The country has set itself the ambitious goal of all new vehicles powered by electric motors by 2025. In order to increase the sales volume, the Norwegian government has introduced many amenities for elbili owners.
Facilities for elbili
The idea that electric cars in Norway should be the dominant part of all vehicles has been alive for almost 30 years. This idea has been a source of heated debate for a long time, even if there were no suitable elbili models on the market yet. As soon as these emerged, Norway took action.
The first step was the temporary abolition of customs duties on "electrics" in 1990. Further steps were taken six years later. The customs duty was permanently abolished and drivers of electric cars were also exempted from... road use fees. In 1999, another convenience was introduced. From that moment on, Elbili owners were also exempt from parking fees.
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Abolition of VAT
The greatest benefits were obtained after 2001. In the first place, a tax relief was guaranteed for companies that decided to purchase electric cars for their fleet. As a result, enterprises could count on even 50% lower taxes. However, this is not the end of revolutionary changes.
Electric cars in Norway began to account for an increasing share of all vehicles on Norwegian roads after 2002. It was then decided that all elbili buyers would be released from the obligation to pay 25% VAT. Thanks to this, the problem of low price attractiveness was solved - so far electric cars in Norway were much more expensive than their combustion counterparts.
Effects of provided amenities
The introduced improvements did not bring any results for a long time. The first clear jump in sales was recorded almost 20 years after the first facilitations were introduced. In 2010, there were around 3,3 thousand people present in Norway. cars with an electric motor. In 2015, it was already 73, and in March 2017, the number of electric and hybrid cars exceeded 50% of all newly registered vehicles in Norway.
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World record for sales
As demonstrated by the independent Road Traffic Council (abbr. OFV) - September 2018 was record-breaking in terms of sales. The published data clearly shows that the set record is not only national, but is unique in the world. As mentioned above, the total number of electric and hybrid cars in March 2017 accounted for 51% of all newly registered vehicles in Norway. Last September brought another breakthrough - vehicles powered solely by electric motors already accounted for 45,3% of the entire Norwegian new car market.
Electric cars in Norway - what is selling?
The best-selling units in this segment are the Model X and Model S from Tesla, with over 2 registered vehicles. in September (1 Model X and 234 Model S). Nissan Leaf came second in the list of the most-bought elbiles, with sales of 782 units. In total, 1 zero-emission cars were registered in the previous month, of which eight were hydrogen-powered cars.
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Electric cars in Norway
Electric cars in Norway account for an increasing share of newly registered vehicles. It would not have been possible to achieve world sales records if the Norwegian government had not been ahead of the economy and had not created favorable legal conditions. Currently, the regulations encourage the purchase of vehicles powered by electric motors. The decisive convenience was the elimination of 25% VAT on elbile. Admittedly, in some cases, some privileges are abolished (such as exemption from road tolls - what we wrote about here), the current automotive trends should continue.
