The Future Is Here Already — Electric Cars Outsell Petrol/Diesel Cars By 8.4 Percent In Norway

Electric vehicles outsold fossil fuel-powered cars for the first time in Norway. History-making statistics have been revealed by media reports stating that 58.4 percentage of all cars sold in Norway in March 2019 were all-electric models. Only 41.6 percentage of overall car sales were taken up by fossil fuel-powered cars.

This is a landmark moment and is just the beginning of what is to come in the near future. There is a wave of environment-friendliness across the globe that is rapidly spreading. Because of this, most people across the globe feel the need to let go of their petrol/diesel powered cars and go the eco-friendly way with electric vehicles.

However, multiple reasons like lack of infrastructure and the expensive purchase costs of electric vehicles prevent them from going the electric way. This is exactly where the Norwegian government did things differently. Conventional vehicles being overtaken by electric vehicles in terms of sales is no small feat and did not happen all of a sudden.

The Norwegian government has been taking initiatives to encourage electric cars since nearly 30 years now. It was in 1990, that the government had decided to have a national goal of having a zero-emissions future.

According to the government, by 2025, all vehicles on sale in Norway should either be powered by electricity or by hydrogen and that only means one thing - complete elimination of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. Going by the statistics for March 2019, the 2025 goal may very well be achieved.

Since 1990, the government abolished purchase/import taxes on electric vehicles. Since 2001, electric car buyers were exempted from the 25 percent VAT they needed to pay on purchase. Toll fees, Ferry ride charges and parking charges were reduced by 50 percent for electric vehicles.

Adding to all this is the fact that the government improved infrastructure by installing more than 10,000 fast-chargers across the country. These are a few of the many incentives offered by the government to electric vehicle buyers and after nearly three decades, the results are showing. The sales charts from March 2019 were the figures that the government wanted to see from a long time and now they have obtained it.

Thoughts On Electric Vehicles Selling More Than Petrol/Diesel Vehicles In Norway

We have all been told that electric vehicles are the future. Well, the governments of a few countries like Switzerland, Sweden and Norway are proving that electric vehicles are not just the future, but they are the present as well. The government of Norway has set the perfect example for what a government needs to do in order to cut down on emissions by boosting electric car sales.