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Norway boasts the highest electric vehicle adoption rate in the world. According to the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), about 82% of new car sales in Norway in 2023 were EVs. In comparison, 7.6% of new car sales in the US last year were electric, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates. In China, the world’s largest auto market, 24% of new car sales in 2023 were EVs, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
“Our target is that by 2025 all new cars will be zero-emission vehicles,” said Ragnhild Syrstedt, state secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. “We think we’re going to reach that target.”
The Norwegian government began to encourage the purchase of EVs in the 1990s by offering free parking, use of bus lanes, no tolls, and most importantly, no tax on zero-emission vehicles. but it wasn’t until Tesla That and other EV models became available about 10 years ago, Syrstedt said, allowing sales to take off.
Norway’s capital Oslo is also electrifying its ferries, buses, semi trucks and even construction equipment. Gas pumps and parking meters are being replaced with chargers. This is the electric utopia of the future. Norway’s grid has so far been able to handle the influx of EVs due to its abundance of hydropower.
“Electric cars are probably a third of the price of gasoline because we have almost 100% hydropower. It’s cheap. It’s available and renewable. So that’s a big advantage,” said Petter Haugeland, assistant general secretary of the Norwegian EV Association.
CNBC flew around the world to meet with experts, government officials and locals to find out how the Scandinavian country achieved such a high EV adoption rate.
Watch the documentary for the full story.
