For the first time in Norway, electric cars outnumber petrol cars, an industry organisation has said, a world first that puts the country on track to eliminate fossil fuel vehicles from the roads.
Of the 2.8 million private cars registered in the Nordic country, 754,303 are fully electric, compared to 753,905 that run on gasoline, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said in a statement.
Diesel models remain the most numerous at just under a million, but sales are falling rapidly.
“This is historic. A milestone that few saw coming ten years ago,” said OFV director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen.
“The electrification of the vehicle fleet is advancing rapidly and Norway is quickly becoming the first country in the world with a vehicle fleet dominated by electric vehicles.”
Norway, paradoxically a major oil and gas producer, has set a target for all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles (mostly electric vehicles, as the share of hydrogen cars is very small) by 2025, ten years ahead of the EU target.
In August, fully electric vehicles accounted for a record 94.3% of new car registrations in Norway, driven by sales of the Tesla Model Y.
In a bid to electrify road transport to help meet Norway’s climate commitments, Norwegian authorities have offered generous tax rebates for electric vehicles, making them competitive compared to fuel, diesel and hybrid cars.
Norway’s success in electric vehicles contrasts sharply with the difficulties seen elsewhere in Europe.
Sales of electric cars began to decline in late 2023 and now account for just 12.5% of new cars sold on the continent.
