Norway is the country others look to when it comes to zero-emission vehicle adoption. The high number of plug-in vehicle sales is thanks to the county’s ambitious target and related incentives to phase out the sale of new gas cars by the year 2025.
Even though it is the most ambitious, Norway is on track to beat that target by nearly three years.
According to new vehicle registration data from the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), new petrol and diesel car registered in the first 8 months of 2021 amounted to just 4.93% and 4.73% of total registrations.
That compares to 2017 when fossil fuel burning cars made up more than 25%.
If the trend over the last 4 years continues, new petrol and diesel car sales will reach near zero by April 2022 – just 7 months away (via Motor.no).
We use the term near-zero because it will be virtually impossible to have zero new petrol or diesel car sales next year when there are still segments that have no zero-emission option, like pickup trucks or minivans.
Looking at the data from 2021, out of the top 50 most popular cars in Norway you have to go all the way down to 38th place to find the first fossil fuel burning car – the VW Tiguan.
The most popular car in Norway in 2021 is none other than the Tesla Model 3.
Canada has a target to phase out new gas car sales by 2035, with several provinces having similar targets. British Columbia has already reached their first phased-in target of 10% of new car sales being zero emission ahead of schedule.
Whether the country as a whole will be able to follow suit will depend on how many much the federal and provincial governments want it to happen, as Norway clearly shows that generous tax incentives are a major driver of success.
