Vehicle registration data released by the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) shows that Norway is the first country in the world to have more electric cars than gasoline cars.
OFV said that as of now, 26.3% of the 2.8 million passenger cars registered in Norway are pure electric vehicles, slightly higher than the share of gasoline cars (26.2%). Diesel cars are still the most common type, accounting for 35% of all car registrations in Norway. By 2030, the number of passenger cars in Norway may increase to 3.1 million.
“The electrification of the passenger car fleet is developing rapidly, and Norway is quickly becoming the first country in the world with a passenger fleet dominated by electric vehicles,” OFV Director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said in a statement. He predicted that the number of electric vehicles in Norway will exceed diesel vehicles by 2026.
Norway leads the world in the adoption of electric vehicles, thanks to Norwegian government incentives, including exemptions from sales and emissions taxes for electric cars and trucks, reduced tolls and parking fees for these vehicles, and allowing electric car drivers to use bus lanes. Norway is also one of the richest countries in the world, which helps offset the higher upfront costs of electric vehicles. The Norwegian government’s incentives are working, with OFV data showing that of the 11,114 cars sold in Norway in August, 10,480 were electric, or 94%.
The Norwegian government has said it hopes its tax incentives will allow Norway to end all new gasoline and diesel car sales by next year.
Diesel car sales have seen a decade-long surge since Norway introduced tax incentives for low-emission cars in 2007, as they are calculated to emit less carbon dioxide than gasoline cars.
However, Norwegian diesel car sales peaked in 2017 and have since fallen sharply as the electric car market has grown. September was also the first time since 2011 that the number of diesel cars on Norwegian roads fell below 1 million. However, Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said: “Many of these diesel cars will continue to be on Norwegian roads for years to come.”
According to the International Energy Agency, about 18% of all new cars sold worldwide last year were electric. Electric cars and trucks account for 22% of new car sales in China, 14% in Europe and 7% in the United States, according to the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation.