Ritik Gupta
To curtail emissions across the globe, many countries will outlaw sales of new combustion-powered cars. In the UK, this will come into force in 2030, though automakers will yet be authorized to sell some hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles until 2035.
Norway, on the other hand, is prohibiting sales of combustion cars as early as 2025. The country is already on the path to achieving this mark because 54 percent of all new vehicles sold in Norway in 2020 were utterly electric, up from 42.1 percent in 2019. This remarkable accomplishment renders Norway, the first country in the world where EVs are outselling combustion cars. In order to create EVs more persuading to buyers, Norway offers tax immunities on electric vehicles and imposes high taxes on gas-guzzling cars.
There are still many jobs to do to boost charging infrastructures and make EVs more inexpensive, but this is a positive step toward the transition to EVs.
The availability of electric cars also supported Norway to achieve this juncture. Some automakers are concentrating on the Norwegian market, where there’s an elevated demand for EVs. Demand for Volkswagen Group EVs was too high. The Audi e-Tron was Norway’s best-selling model in 2020, thanks to launching the cheaper e-Tron 50, a smaller battery pack to maintain the price low. This variant isn’t available in the US, nevertheless.
Of the 141,412 new cars sold in Norway last year, 76,789 were EVs. Out of these, Audi’s electric SUV accounted for 9,227 units. The Tesla Model 3 was Norway’s second best-selling model with 7,700 units, followed by the Volkswagen ID.3 (7,754 units) and Nissan Leaf (5,221 units). The vogue of EVs in Norway will only heighten next year with the upcoming launches of the Tesla Model Y and Audi Q4 e-Tron. As a result, Norway is well on the path to becoming the first country in the world where EVs make up 100 percent of sales by 2025.
