By Anders Lorenzen

There will still be some fossil-fuel-driven cars on the roads in Norway in the years and decades. However, their current status as dominating the car market will soon be a thing of the past, with electric vehicles heading the market.  New data shows that no other developed economy has made as much progress as the Scandinavian country in transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs). 

Data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed that of all car sales in 2024 in Norway, a staggering 88.9% are fully electric. This translates to every nine out of ten cars sold. The promising high number of EV sales is up from 82.4% in 2023.

Unsurprisingly, the Norwegian EV industry celebrated this achievement, with the head of the Norwegian EV association, Christina Bu, in a buoyant mood declaring, “Norway will be the first country in the world to pretty much erase petrol and diesel engine cars from the new car market.”

The EV choices of Norwegians

The most popular EV cars in Norway are Tesla, followed by Volkswagen and Toyota.

But it may not stay this way for long. In just five years, several Chinese EV cars have become increasingly popular in Norway, accounting for 10% of the EV new car sales market.

Five years ago, the first Chinese EV was sold in Norway, and the company MG entered the car market in the country. Since then, BYD and XPeng have followed, and all three Chinese companies are amongst the top 20 of the most sold EVs.

The EV policy

Norway is the largest oil producer in Europe. It sets itself apart from other large oil-producing nations, as it penalises petrol and diesel cars with higher taxes.  It also keeps import and value-added tax exemptions for EVs in place. This is a drive to make them more attractive, though some levies are slowly being introduced. The data for Norway’s EV transition shows it is a highly effective policy. Experts argue that one of the reasons why the policy has been successful is that it has been consistent over time across successive governments from left to right.

It is precisely because Norway has prioritised consistent policies that they have succeeded, and countries with more volatile policies have failed. Christina Bu argues, “Very often we see in other countries that someone puts tax incentives or exemptions and then pull back again”, which explains why other countries have failed to replicate the same success. 

While Norway is a large oil producer, they do not produce cars, hence making it a sensible policy to tax cars more. The head of Norway’s biggest car importer, Harald A. Moeller, Ulf Tore Hekneby, said, “We are not a car-producing country, so taxing cars highly in the past was simple.”

The other economic advantage is that the world is oil-hungry. The more oil they can export, the more revenue goes into the bank balance of Norway, which per capita is one of the world’s most prosperous. A key to driving up oil exports, apart from drilling for more oil, is to reduce demand at home, another reason why drastically ramping up the EV transition makes economic sense for the country. 

The fact underlines the business argument behind Norway’s EV strategy that it is far more effective to change the economy and market if you want to alter consumer behaviour rather than ban stuff.

Also, there’s a key difference between how other countries and Norway approach this. Several countries, including the European Union (EU), have announced dates for the banning of new petrol and diesel cars.  This approach has added more anger than incentivised people to swap their fossil-fuel-driven cars with an EV or even a hybrid.

Together, petrol and diesel cars still outnumber EVs on Norway’s roads. Petrol and diesel cars are still being sold, and it is unlikely that the government’s target of achieving a complete phase-out of the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2025 will be met. Some drivers are still resistant, so the country’s transport ministry is working hard to undo the stumbling blocks and persuade the last just over 10% across the finishing line.

However, the most significant group resisting this is not individual people but rental car companies because not everybody is familiar with EVs, especially tourists. And having the option to rent a petrol or diesel car is a choice that the companies are not willing to give up, at least not yet.  

In many countries, one of the key concerns when switching to an EV is whether there are enough charging infrastructure points.  In Norway, the reverse option could become a reality, as more petrol and diesel charging stands are replaced with fast EV chargers. The country’s largest fuel retailer, Circle K, has announced that within the next three years, they will have as many charging points as fuel stations. Fuel retailers must change their infrastructure as Norway’s car landscape changes drastically. It predicted that within the next three years, there will be as many EVs as petrol and diesel cars on Norwegian roads.

And even the Norwegian sporting world is aligning with the EV mission. Last year, the Norwegian/Danish professional road-cycling team Uno-X Mobility – sponsored by another fuel retailer, Uno-X –  became the first cycling team to include EVs in their Tour de France support team.