Electric cars outnumber petrol cars in Norway

Electric cars have overtaken petrol cars in Norway for the first time.

This was announced by an organisation on Tuesday.

According to the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), of the 2.8 million registered private cars in the country, 754,303 are fully electric, while 753,905 run on petrol.

Diesel cars remain the most common, with just under one million on the road, though their numbers are rapidly declining.

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“This is historic. A milestone few saw coming 10 years ago,” OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said in a statement.

“The electrification of the fleet of passenger cars is going quickly, and Norway is thereby rapidly moving towards becoming the first country in the world with a passenger car fleet dominated by electric cars,” OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said.

Despite being a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims to sell only zero-emission vehicles—primarily electric, as hydrogen cars remain rare—by 2025, ahead of the EU’s 2035 target.

In August, electric vehicles made up a record 94.3% of new car registrations, driven largely by sales of the Tesla Model Y.

Generous tax incentives have been key to Norway’s success in electrifying its road transport, making EVs more competitively priced compared to petrol, diesel, and hybrid models.

This contrasts sharply with the rest of Europe, where electric car sales have dropped since late 2023 and now account for just 12.5% of new vehicle sales.

 

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE