Norway's electric vehicle sales have increased from less than 1% of total auto sales in 2010 to a whopping 88.9% last year.

Summary

Norway is on track to become the first country to eliminate gasoline and diesel cars from new car sales, with EVs making up over 96% of recent purchases.

Decades of incentives, including tax breaks and infrastructure investments, have driven this shift.

Officials see EV adoption as a “new normal” and aim for electric city buses by 2025.

While other countries lag behind, Norway’s success demonstrates the potential for widespread EV adoption.

  • ironsoap@lemmy.oneEnglish
    181·
    1 day ago

    I’m not saying they aren’t downplaying it, but it’s also a population of 5.5 million of highly educated and high per capita income, which makes easier to implement. Small population and people who can afford it.

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      172·
      1 day ago

      Maybe but so far in the us, it’s not the large population or lack of affordability blocking EV adoption, as much as politics, conservative backlash, Facebook science, outrage culture. If we could put aside our toxicity, spite, narcissism, and come together for a better future, we could be pretty far down that road too

      • ironsoap@lemmy.oneEnglish
        82·
        1 day ago

        Certainly valid that there isn’t a cultural norm for it in the US. With that said, the US still has about 3.3 million EVs on the road. Norway has about 3.4 million cars on the road total.

        So it’s a heck of a lot easier to enable 5.5 million people to replace their cars then 330 million people. Size matters as much as the identity we have with it on this one.

        • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          1 day ago

          That works both ways. Norway doesn’t have a large base of car manufacturers who can follow their guidance, but the US does, including Tesla who did so much to popularize EVs and used to dominate

          Any large transition need guidance, incentives, motivation to happen in a reasonable time. Norway did that. Meanwhile the us is an inconsistent mess spewing FUD, lobbying by entrenched interests, and very short term thinking. Of course we only have the early adopters who could wade through all that resistance and now with Musks jump to the right we have a whole new obstacle.

          • how did Norway get chargers? We just now started government funding and it’s likely cancelled
          • when did they provide incentives to help encourage expensive purchases? Us again just recently started a federal incentive, it has been inconsistent and likely will be cancelled
          • I’ve ready that Norway had incentives at registration, parking, toll roads. US still hasn’t done those and several states make EV registration more expensive
          • too many in the US still claim EVs are impractical or more polluting, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary, while Norway did it
          • does Norway have things like “rolling coal” or “ICEing”? Vandalism for copper scrap? What kind of toxic trash does that?
          • ironsoap@lemmy.oneEnglish
            3·
            1 day ago

            And this is the nuanced answer that begins to give context to the issue.

            Absolutely correct.

    • n2burns@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      Sure, but Norway also has decent active/public transit. So, if residents can’t afford an EV, there’s a good chance they just don’t own a car at all, and can still get around okay.

      • ironsoap@lemmy.oneEnglish
        5·
        1 day ago

        As I’m here now, I can attest to the great public transit. However I will also say the large and dispirit nature of their population means the car will still likely rule. Yes many may not afford it, and some prefer the bike (even now in winter) but they seem to love their cars as much as the US given the traffic.