Nine in 10 new cars in the country are now battery-powered, and it aims to hit 100% later this year.

Summary

Norway leads the world in electric vehicle (EV) adoption, with EVs making up nearly 90% of new car sales in 2024 and over 30% of all cars on its roads.

This shift, driven by decades of policies like tax exemptions for EVs, higher taxes on fossil fuel cars, and perks like free parking, has put Norway on track to phase out new fossil fuel car sales by 2025.

The country’s wealth, renewable hydroelectric power, and extensive charging network have enabled its EV revolution, serving as a model for other nations.

  • karl_chungus@lemm.eeEnglish
    21·
    19 hours ago

    I’m not trying to give them a free pass at selling oil or anything, but this is a much better use of the profits compared to other countries.

    I’d rather see a country exporting fossil fuels doing something with that money to not use fossil fuels than give it to Billionaires or something.

    If more countries followed their example, there wouldn’t be much demand left for that oil.

    • The Octonaut@mander.xyzEnglish
      2·
      18 hours ago

      Absolutely it is better than not subsidising EV cars. No doubt. My issue is with the original comment painting this as something “barely any effort” implying that any country could do this. This was a unique situation and I’m glad that Norwegians chose to make themselves feel better about being an educated western petrostate bane on the planet by buying themselves EVs instead of feeding it to a king, ceo, sultan or emir.

      • karl_chungus@lemm.eeEnglish
        11·
        17 hours ago

        Any country could do this, and it’s a bigger start than most are making. I think the “barely any effort” bit was relative compared to what other, bigger, richer countries are prioritizing instead.

        Maybe it’s not literally effortless but compared to other countries, yeah.

        • The Octonaut@mander.xyzEnglish
          1·
          6 hours ago

          Not every country has ungodly reserves of fossil fuels providing essentially free money. “Richer” is a bit silly - by raw GDP per capita, Norway has been one of if not the richest country in the world since the establishment of State Oil. Combined with not being a dirt poor monarchy ready to sell its resource extraction rights to Britain/America when the resources were found, Norway is nearly unique.

          • karl_chungus@lemm.eeEnglish
            1·
            5 hours ago

            Regardless of raw GDP per capita there are wealthier nations who could do this. Norway’s positioning to do so smoothly doesn’t invalidate the decision itself.

            Again, if the rest of the world curbed our addiction to fossil fuels they wouldn’t sell as much oil. But as long as they are I’m ok with them using the profits for stuff like this.

            Using profits derived from fossil fuels to transition to cleaner technology is exactly what we should be doing.