this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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Summary

Norway is on track to become the first country to eliminate gasoline and diesel cars from new car sales, with EVs making up over 96% of recent purchases.

Decades of incentives, including tax breaks and infrastructure investments, have driven this shift.

Officials see EV adoption as a “new normal” and aim for electric city buses by 2025.

While other countries lag behind, Norway's success demonstrates the potential for widespread EV adoption.

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[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

it's very cool to not drive in that country because you don't need to and you wouldn't because you're not fat

[–] lipilee@feddit.nl 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

and, shocker, it was even less than "less than 1%" before electric cars were invented!

[–] tyler@programming.dev 5 points 2 hours ago

electric cars were invented in the 1830s.. They're literally older than gas vehicles.

[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Norway progresses while the USA regresses going full fucking 3rd World with Orange Nero.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Just give us 10 years and we'll be right there with you.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Has no one told them that EVs don't work when it's cold?

/s

[–] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I swear all my coworkers keep asking what I'm going to do when my battery dies in the cold smfh

and even my wife still has range anxiety despite traveling half of I-95 multiple times

[–] refreeze@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This was such a big worry of mine, but I'm only down 12% average versus the summer and I live in Canada.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Also, solar panels are worse for the environment than burning fossil fuels for 20 years and windmills make everyone nearby sick because they spin and disturb the atmosphere.

Literally things I've heard IRL in oil country from people who, clearly, went looking for a personally affirming worldview.

[–] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 10 points 1 day ago

yeah on a recent trip it went from like 2.8 mi/kw to 2.3 mi/kw as the weather went from above to below 0 C but the way you hear some people tell it if the snow falls you'll be stranded at work and won't be able to drive ten miles home 😑

Really? No~r~ Way!

~(sorry~ ~for~ ~the~ ~terrible~ ~joke~ ~lol)~

[–] nogooduser@lemmy.world 80 points 1 day ago (1 children)

While other countries lag behind, Norway's success demonstrates the potential for widespread EV adoption.

Decades of incentives, including tax breaks and infrastructure investments, have driven this shift.

Basically, if your government really wants it and doesn’t give in to lobbying then they can do it.

It’s many years of concerted effort with successive administrations keeping up the commitment.

Our 2024 figure for % of new cars being electric was 19.6% in the UK so I’d be very surprised if we hit the 2030 target of 80% new cars sold being zero emission.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 40 points 1 day ago (11 children)

Geology and geography are also helping a lot.

Norway is also a very wealthy nation, which thanks to its huge oil and gas exports, has a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $1.7tn (£1.3tn). This means it can more easily afford big infrastructure-build projects, and absorb the loss of tax revenue from the sale of petrol and diesel cars and their fuel.

The country also has an abundance of renewable hydro electricity, which accounts for 88% of its production capacity. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg52543v6rmo

[–] Trashcan@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

If you think we actually invest in infrastructure, you are sorely mistaken.... I mean yes, we have a decent charging infrastructure. Driven by Tesla purchase and gas stations following through in order to retain EV customers. So some infrastructure is needed to support that.

But we don't even have good enough infrastructure to distribute an abundance of hydro electricity from North to the South, while at the same time we export electricity down to central Europe from the South, so prices fluctuates a crap ton.

Don't get me started on train lines being neglected for the past 50 years. And as most countries we are realising that all our sewage and water lines need a massive renewal....

Maybe we should use more of the oil fund for these tasks, but I believe there would be large inflations if we tossed the oil fund around to fix everything....

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They don't withdraw much from that fund though and have an annual ceiling of 3% of its value, they still pay a good amount of taxes (22% on income, 25% sales tax). Blaming the oil fund just shows how lacking other countries management is.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (2 children)

They don't withdraw a lot, but having it means they don't have a need to tax all the things just in case either and they can take a hit today to plan for a better future. That is to say, EVs in Norway are exempt from vehicle taxes, import duties, registration fees and get all kinds of other benefits too making them way cheaper in comparison to ICE cars.

That fund has something like $200 000 per Norwegian in it.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Most things have a 25% sales tax on them + 22% flat rate for income tax. How much taxes are billionaires paying in the US?

Again, blame the fund all you want, in the end the problem is other countries not jumping at the opportunities presented to them to build a similar fund.

It was inspired by Alberta's heritage fund (which obviously existed before Norway's), Alberta has a much bigger oil reserve and has extracted way more oil than Norway. How much do they have in their version of the fund? Less than CAD $30B. Instead of investing for the future they decided to cut all sales taxes and to lower income taxes as much as they realistically could while still offering public services.

The same logic can apply to any government that has natural resources to manage and decides not to nationalize it to invest for the future.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 points 19 hours ago

No clue, I'm from Finland where our VAT is 25.5%, income tax is higher than in Norway, and our vehicles are some of the most expensive, and also the oldest, in Europe :)

[–] Bronzie@sh.itjust.works 1 points 19 hours ago

Close.

Every NOK over 500k is now with VAT. They changed it last year.

The selection under 500k is still quite good, so I’m not gonna pretend the deal is horrible, and you only pay on the amount over, so a 600k car is still artificially cheap compared to most places.

[–] DrunkenPirate@feddit.org 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yepp, it’s odd to celebrate the milestone to emobility if one knows it’s paid all by carving carbon out of the earth. The goal of Emobility is to reduce carbon emissions - as far as I know.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Yepp, it’s odd to celebrate the milestone to emobility if one knows it’s paid all by carving carbon out of the earth.

A nation converting nearly 100% to EV means less carbon needing to be carved out of the Earth going forward. How is that not something to celebrate for those that like less carbon being carved out of the Earth?

[–] DrunkenPirate@feddit.org -2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Because this very nation makes tons of money by selling oil and gaz (carbon emissions)

Same joke if Saudi Arabia would go 100% emobility and keeps selling oil (carbon emissions)

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Are you saying you would prefer they sell tons oil and gas (carbon emissions), as well as have their nation producing even more carbon emissions from ICE vehicle tailpipes? That seems to contradict your desire to have fewer carbon emissions.

[–] DrunkenPirate@feddit.org 1 points 2 hours ago (2 children)
[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

There only appears to be two realistic choices, and I've enumerated them both. Feel free to clarify your position then.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

please clarify what you are saying.

[–] DrunkenPirate@feddit.org 1 points 2 hours ago

Are you saying a slaughterman that is vegetarian could be proud of his choice? While he still runs his slaughterhouse and kills animals?

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[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 day ago

Meanwhile our Premier just floated the idea to delay the ban on gas car sales... Fun how a new president in the neighboring country makes us give up on our emission goals...

[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 day ago

Norway: don't get high on your own supply...

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