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Last year, Norway reached a milestone. Only 8 percent of new cars sold in the country operated entirely on conventional gasoline or diesel fuel. Two-thirds of the new cars sold were electric, and most of the rest were electric and petrol hybrids.
Norway for years World leader in moving away from traditional cars, thanks to government benefits that make electric vehicles much more affordable and offer extras like allowing electric vehicle owners to skip some fees for parking and toll roads.
Still, electric car enthusiasts were stunned quickly that the internal combustion engine has become an endangered species in Norway.
“Many people were surprised that things changed so quickly,” said US Secretary-General Christina Bu. Norwegian EV Association, tell me. In 2015, electric cars accounted for about 20 percent of new car sales, and they’re now the “new normal,” he said. (It’s organized as follows AAA for electric vehicle drivers.)
Americans may view Norwegians as environmental mortals eager to abandon petrol cars. But This and other transportation experts told me Norwegians started with the same electric vehicle skepticism as Americans.
This has changed due to government policies that pick the easier winners first and the growing number of attractive electric cars. Over time, this combination has helped more Norwegians believe that electric cars are for them. It Wrote Recently, if Norway could do it, the USA and other countries could do it too.
The biggest source of transportation greenhouse gas emissions In the United States and climate scientists, the move away from internal combustion engine vehicles is necessary to avoid the worst effects of a warming planet. US electric car sales are growing rapidly, but about 3 percent of new passenger cars, percentages away less than not including these are mostly other rich countries.
So what did Norway do right? That said, the country’s policies focus primarily on the least difficult: nagging people who are considering electrifying a new car.
Norwegians who bought new electric cars did not have to pay the country’s very high taxes on new vehicle sales. This has made electric cars unnecessary for many people and has not hurt those who already own conventional cars or buy used cars.
That also said, Norway is not paralyzed by reasonable objections to electric vehicles — So where to charge them? Electric car subsidies state aid to the rich? In other words, Norway did not allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good.
Not every country has a very convenient tax system to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. (Gas taxes are also very high in Norway.) But This suggested that for this to work in the US, we could impose higher taxes on the most polluting new car models and use that money to subsidize electric vehicle purchases.
This US federal government and many states It already offers tax breaks on some electric cars. We don’t tend to tax gas enthusiasts, in part because Americans don’t like using higher taxes to deter behavior.
Subsidies for electric cars not enough on their own To increase electric vehicle ownership, although they help build momentum in Norway. As more and more new electric cars hit the roads, it just got tastier to build more places to charge them. Auto companies began dedicating most of their marketing to electric vehicles, and they launched more models in a variety of prices and features. It’s just started in the USA
Anders Hartmann said these are not easy policy options in Norway or anywhere else. lion whistle, a Norwegian planning and engineering consulting firm.
Letting EV drivers bypass parking or tolls is manageable when there are very few people on the roads, Hartmann said, but more recently, some local governments said they’ve lost money they used to fund public transport. The Norwegian legislature has discussed reducing tax breaks for electric vehicles, but that’s tough because they’re popular.
That told me the biggest change in Norway is that most people believe electric cars are for them. “What really surprised me was the change in mentality,” he said.
He said his father was one of those people who once said he would never buy an electric car. His parents now have one too.
Before you go …
hug this
These cats – including those described as “suspicuously sensitive dust bunnies” – sat on the Vitamix box and THEY DON’T MOVE.
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