China may well be the world’s largest single electric vehicle market, but the Scandinavian country of Norway has the highest penetration of EVs overall in the world.
Last year, EVs accounted for almost two-thirds of Norway’s new car sales with Telsa the top-selling manufacturer with an 11.6-per-cent market share. The EV share grew from 54 per cent in 2020 to 65 per cent last year – in which new vehicle sales reached a record 176,276 cars.
The proportion of overall EV sales is expected to be as high as 80 per cent this year – three years ahead of its self-set deadline of ending petrol- and diesel-powered car sales by 2025.
The fast rate of new EV sales is making a huge difference on the nation’s total vehicle fleet: in 2018 just 10 per cent of its cars were EVs, but by the end of last year that share had grown to 22 per cent.
Reuters attributes the strength of EVs among Norway’s new car sales to an exemption of EVs from taxes applying to internal combustion engines (ICE)-powered vehicles. The government policy also proves the nation’s moral commitment to moving away from petrol-powered vehicles, given Norway is an oil-producing country.
China still has the world’s largest EV population, with 7.861 million EVs sold up until December last year, about 50 per cent more than the entirety of Europe (5.543 million). And more than three times the number sold to date in the US (2.349 million).
Volkswagen followed close behind with 9.6 per cent, with the remaining sales spread around a vast array of European, Japanese and Chinese brands.
The most popular model was Tesla’s 3, ahead of Toyota’s hybrid RAV4, the only car among the top-10 with an internal combustion engine. Volkswagen’s electric ID.4 was the third top-seller.
- Further reading: Could EVs help power homes? Tesla owners invited to join global research.
