Electric cars on Norway's roads may soon replace gasoline-powered cars, and it will be another three to four years before they outnumber diesel vehicles.
Norway remains the leader in electric car sales, and since the beginning of this year, approximately 90% of all new cars sold in the country have been electric. The country is also on the way to banning the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars.
Although sales of new electric cars in Norway have easily outpaced sales of petrol and diesel models in recent years, figures from the Norwegian Public Roads Authority show that there are approximately 776,003 petrol cars, 1,068,929 diesel cars, 339,724 hybrids and 700 358 electric cars.
Speaking to Reuterssenior researcher at the CICERO think tank, Robbie Andrew, said that the number of electric cars will soon exceed the number of gasoline cars.
“If this trend continues over the next 12 months, and given that sales of pure petrol cars are now negligible, next year, or even this December, there will be more new electric cars on the road than pure petrol cars.”– noted Andrew.
Note that in January, electric cars accounted for 92.1% of all new cars sold in Norway. This indicator decreased slightly in March to 89.3%, partly due to higher interest rates and reduced tax benefits. In 2023, the government removed the VAT exemption for electric cars costing more than NOK 500,000 ($46,700), making them more expensive.