Norway is the Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the World. In 2020, 54 per cent of the new cars that were sold in Norway were EVs – fully electric cars and not plug-in hybrids. Norway sells 80,000 EVs per year, equal to 148 EVs per 10,000 people – 261% more than any other country. China sells over 1 million EVs a year, equal to just seven EVs per 10,000 of the population. Norway has more than 16,000 charging stations, including 3,300 fast chargers, and in 2021, 40 new electric car models will be launched. The goal is for the whole of the Norwegian car fleet to be zero-emission by 2025.
The reason EVs are so popular in Norway isn’t because Norwegians are specifically trying to be green or that they feel an outstanding sense of duty towards global citizenry. While a significant 39 per cent of Norwegians surveyed listed “environment” as one of their reasons for buying an EV, a full 64 per cent said the biggest reason for their EV purchase was “economic motivation” — EVs are incredibly cheap to own and operate in the country.
The other huge reason for the popularity of electric cars in Norway is the thorough and far-reaching network of charging stations. There are 5,600 stations in Norway and 1,400 of those within the city of Oslo. That’s one charging station per 446 cars. For Canada to have the same ratio, we would need 47,700 charging stations.
Picture Credit : Google
