Norway’s EV Revolution: A Nation Unplugging from Fossil Fuels
In a quiet Nordic coup against the combustion engine, Norway has sped into the electric future with nearly 90% of new cars sold last year running purely on batteries. Tesla led the charge, Volkswagen and Toyota in tow, as Chinese electric vehicles carved out a modest yet significant slice of the market. Once a kingdom of oil, Norway now lords over a green transition, with high taxes punishing petrol and diesel while EVs glide by, blessed by tax exemptions and incentives. But what’s Norway’s secret sauce? Consistency. Decades of unwavering policies, immune to political flip-flopping, have electrified the nation’s roads without sparking a public backlash.
Yet, Norway’s electric dream wasn’t imposed—it was incentivized. “People don’t like being told what to do,” said Christina Bu of the Norwegian EV Association, reflecting on how carrots, not sticks, drove the shift. Meanwhile, with no auto-manufacturing lobby to fight tax hikes, the country taxed internal combustion engines (ICE) with ease, long before the EV era began. The ripple effect? Not just a burgeoning EV market but a rewiring of infrastructure. At Circle K, Norway’s largest fuel retailer, fast chargers now rival petrol pumps, bracing for a future where over half the cars on the road will be electric by mid-decade.
For many Norwegians, the EV leap wasn’t without its hiccups. In winter, it takes longer to charge. It’s not just about cleaner air, it’s about driving into a world that feels just a little bit brighter. In Norway, the electric future isn’t coming—it’s here, and it’s plugged in for the long haul.
(Source: Quartz | Reuters | ESG News)
