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Transportation Power

Volkswagen To Stop Selling Combustion Vehicles In Norway From 2024 (electrive.com) 82

The Norwegian Volkswagen importer Moller Mobility Group has confirmed that it will stop selling combustion vehicles in Norway from 2024. Electricdrive.com reports: The farewell to the combustion engine in Norway is only logical: already today, e-cars regularly account for more than 80 percent of new registrations in the Scandinavian country, and the government wants them to reach a full 100 per cent by 2025. "It may seem strange to celebrate the milestone by removing model icons from our portfolio, but this has been an ambitious and important initiative over time," says Ulf Tore Hekneby, managing director of Volkswagen importer Harald A. Moller AS. "The goal has been to drive change that we believe is of critical importance."

Harald A. Moller AS has been importing Volkswagens to Norway since 1948. According to the company, around 1.1 million VWs have been sold in the Scandinavian country during these 75 years. This includes a total of 102,000 electric cars in the past ten years. The sale of the last Golf in Norway this December marks the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one, Hekneby emphasised. "We encourage everyone to consider an electric car in their next car purchase. Switching to an electric car is a crucial step in reducing an individual's carbon footprint and an important overall contribution to combating climate change," he said.
The top-selling car in the country is the Tesla Model Y, "dominating more than 20% of the market share with 15,452 units sold in the first half of this year," reports Electrek. "Almost one in four new passenger car registrations so far this year was Tesla Model Y."
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Volkswagen To Stop Selling Combustion Vehicles In Norway From 2024

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  • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @09:11PM (#63954753)

    ...for EV truth and fact to emerge regarding car fires, accidents, insurance and repair costs, autonomous claims and safety ratings.

    Perhaps we might be able to collect unfucked statistics to formulate an actual cost, rather than allow competitive collusion to distort and short for profit.

    (Don't own an EV. Not a cent of Elon investments.)

    • by JasterBobaMereel ( 1102861 ) on Thursday October 26, 2023 @04:06AM (#63955137)

      Car fires are much less
      Accidents are about the same, drivers are still drivers
      Insurance is less
      Most Repairs are less due to less moving parts
      - autonomous is a separate issue - most EV's don't have it, many non-EV's have
      Safety is about the same

      Tesla is not the only player in the market by a long way, and WV is only slightly behind them in Norway

      • Safety is about the same

        That is not clear. By all accounts EVs have a significant lower centre of gravity due to the added mass of the batteries low in the bottom of the chassis. The odds of rolling the car are significantly lower, and Tesla's registered results of various regulatory bodies show an incredibly good safety results compared to the competition for a similar sized car.

      • by kc-guy ( 1108521 )
        Why would insurance be lower if the cars are more expensive than a comparable ICE vehicle? Does mounting the motor in the rear make it less likely that a collision damages the drive train? Would that really matter with safety features like crumple zones destroying the frame in a 30 mph crash anyway?
    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      ...for EV truth and fact to emerge regarding car fires, accidents, insurance and repair costs, autonomous claims and safety ratings.

      Perhaps we might be able to collect unfucked statistics to formulate an actual cost, rather than allow competitive collusion to distort and short for profit.

      (Don't own an EV. Not a cent of Elon investments.)

      Just look at the UK. Insurance costs are killing EV owners (who previously loved to crow about how "cheap" their EV was).

      Granted its going to take a few years to determine the long term fire risks, but I suspect insurance costs will kill them before then.

      An insurance company in the UK is required to guarantee that any car they return to the road is safe. The problem the battery packs, as it's a known issue that damaged lithium batteries are a fire hazard. Standard procedure with electronics in cars is

  • If 15k model Ys were sold, and that's 20% of vehicle sales, then there are 75k vehicle sales per year.

    In the US, there are roughly 15m sales per year, for about 200m registered cars, for an average life of about 15 years.

    Norway has about 1/70th the population of the US, but about 1/200 the annual sales. That's a factor of 3.

    So either they drive their cars into the ground (average vehicle life well over 30 years), or they all live nose-to-tail in Oslo and don't drive at all.

    Or they ride polar bears to work.

    • by Entrope ( 68843 )

      Tesla sold 15k cars in half a year, so Norwegians buy a third fewer cars per capita-year than Americans. And they ride reindeer, not polar bears. Mostly.

    • by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @11:56PM (#63954883)

      they all live nose-to-tail in Oslo

      Population density in Oslo in 2016 was 3,700 pop/sq. mi. That puts it around Richmond, Virginia metro (that's not including the airport and surrounding area) density. So, no hardly the nose-to-tail.

      and don't drive at all

      It's quite snowy and roadways are prone to blockage in a lot of the rural areas. Additionally, many of the unique geographic elements of the country make things like boat and train a more attractive and cost-effective means of transport. Road transport isn't as popular there as it is in the US and highways are not as expansive as they are here in the US. This is why this claim by VW is pretty easy to believe. Norway has about 5m registered cars for the entire country and a good part of the country (in terms of land) is just not geared for road travel. Whereas a good part of the country (in terms of people) are well served by public transit.

      • I find your comment very confusing. As if you've been to Norway but haven't really lived there (it would be interesting to know where you lived if I am wrong). Keep in mind we're talking about passenger cars here, not freight transport (where boats are indeed kings). Although boating in Norway is very widespread, it is still a leisure activity and not a car replacement. Ferry boats are very common, but ferry passengers without a car are more the exception rather than the rule. The train network is quite sim
    • A combination of all three. About 18% of the polulation lives in Oslo. Due to the conditions, the Norwegians tend to drive tough, high-end cars that last a long time (lots of Volvos, Subarus, BMWs) and they are crazy about old cars, so they are also taken good care of. And although they are an oil-producing country, the fuel costs are so high that they car-pool to work a lot as well (not with bears though).
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        From what I understand, Oslo is pretty compact & easy to get around in. Apparently, most people walk. Remember that in Yurp, we're typically talking beautiful architecture, leafy green streets & avenues, pavement cafés & snug bars & restaurants (in colder climates). Oh, & public transport tends to be amazingly good.
    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday October 26, 2023 @02:11AM (#63954979)

      So either they drive their cars into the ground

      The conclusion when comparing any country to the USA isn't that the country drives its cars into the ground, it's that the USA has a hugely fucking larger number of vehicles per capita because of a general car addiction (FREEDOM!) and 100 years of government policy designing cities that absolutely essentially require owning and driving a car every day.

      I live in a city in Europe. I drove 450km last year. In the future look a bit deeper than just the population.

      • The conclusion when comparing any country to the USA isn't that the country drives its cars into the ground, it's that the USA has a hugely fucking larger number of vehicles per capita because of a general car addiction (FREEDOM!) and 100 years of government policy designing cities that absolutely essentially require owning and driving a car every day.

        Not that there's anything wrong with that.....

      • Comparing any country to the USA is bound to be a poor comparison. The US is just plain weird. A lot of that cames from long periods of time being isolationist and distrustful of any foreign ideas. It is almost intentional that the US does not resemble other countries. Where there is similarity it is usually because USA exports ideas and media rather than importing.

        • Comparing any country to the USA is bound to be a poor comparison.

          No you can most definitely compare weird and non-weird countries. That's how we know they are weird. The point is that you need to compare using the correct metrics so you don't end up coming up with an incorrect conclusion.

          In this case a metric like vehicle miles driven per capita would show that people in Norway aren't "driving their vehicles into the ground", just that they aren't driving them as much and as such hold on to them in perfectly working condition longer.

    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      It's not just that. As I noted above, Norway is basically perfect geographic location for EVs in terms of power generation. Almost all of their power comes from hydro, which is near instantly adjustable. Their grid can take the intermittency from mass charging events easily. It's why their hydro is what keeps nearby Denmark's wind heavy grid up when it's not windy, and it still has capacity to spare to sell to others.

      And yes, it is very heavily urbanized and a lot of intercity travel happens by train, not b

  • Stop selling?? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Joce640k ( 829181 )

    This announcement just means they already "stopped selling". Involuntarily.

    Now they're trying to spin it into some sort of planet-saving thing to save face.

    • I think that the reason is very simple: Norway is massively taxing combustion engines while subsidizing EVs.

      The resulting massive price difference likely means that they can't sell IC vehicles at a high enough price in enough quantities to justify the expense of importing them into the country.

      Consider dealer payments, advertising campaigns, translating model lines, regulatory approval, etc...

      • by Quantum gravity ( 2576857 ) on Thursday October 26, 2023 @02:00AM (#63954965)
        The amount of new EV registered in Norway under 2022 was 79.3% of all cars. But when it comes to EV purchased by individuals it is even better, an impressive 92,7%. Norway has become has become a test market for new EV brands.

        Why is Norway the leading country for electric cars? EV have received various subsidies:
        1. No VAT and lower taxes for EV.
        2. Until 2008 one could drive in the bus lane with a EV.
        3. No toll for EV in certain areas until 2019, for example when commuting from suburbs to Oslo.
        4. Free parking for EV i Oslo until 2020.

        And one can add that the government has invested heavily in charging infrastructure.
      • And they only have the infrastructure because they sell oil. Shouldn't we take into account the environmental impact of that oil bieng burned somewhere else that they took out of the ground?
    • They have stopped selling cars nobody want's , they are still selling plenty of cars people do
      They are number #2 in Norway behind Tesla by a small margin

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Norway has been mostly buying EVs for a while now anyway. I bet they don't sell a lot of fossils over there anyway, so it's probably not worth maintaining all the support infrastructure like servicing and training.

  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @11:51PM (#63954875) Journal
    The reason that VW is stopping is that LICE sales are gone due to major subsidies for EV. HOWEVER, with them stopping, others sales will go up. Hopefully, they will stop selling there, or better yet, the government simply stops new sales of all LICE road-based vehicles. At this point, other than the LICE makers like stellantis and Toyota, it would push them to seeing the light and force them all to move quickly.
  • They are ready (Score:5, Informative)

    by OricAtmos48K ( 979353 ) on Thursday October 26, 2023 @12:18AM (#63954905)
    When I was traveling in the remote mountain roads of Norway, where the next human settlement is 2 hours away, Tesla's were cruising on the road without range anxiety. They have an immense charging network.
  • by GreatDrok ( 684119 ) on Thursday October 26, 2023 @12:23AM (#63954907) Journal

    With companies stopping selling ICE vehicles, and with an annual replacement rate of around 10%, it wonâ(TM)t be long before ICE vehicle owners start struggling to find fuel. Just this year Norway has seen a 9% decline in fossil fuel sales compared with last year and a number of sites are removing fossil fuel pumps and replacing them with fast chargers.

    • Love the signature, GreatDrok!
    • Not shortages, just a lack of availability every 15km. A fuel shortage would mean a place that provides it normally can't provide it, not that there's a reduction in places providing it. It's a problem resolved by carrying a jerry can, or if you are really dependent on your ICE vehicle retrofitting a second fuel tank (which is common in countries where there isn't a fuel station every few minutes in your trip).

  • by Misagon ( 1135 ) on Thursday October 26, 2023 @03:18AM (#63955071)

    The thing is that Norway is subsidising electric vehicles.

    It can do so because it is rich on the incomes from its oil industry.

  • When they calculate how good evs are for the environment in Norway i hope they take into account the amount of oil that has been sold and subsequently burned to fund that ev and convince people to n use them.
  • "Combustion Vehicles"? Who'd want to get into a car that explodes upon starting it?
  • Norway is a great example of Leftist hypocrisy: while propping up their economy by selling North Sea oil and gas to other nations, they ban ICE cars in their own country. If every other country in the EU followed suit, Norwegians wouldn't be able to afford electric cars. They would, however, still have cheap oil and gas.

    • by whitroth ( 9367 )

      Jealous, some?

    • They're using their oil wealth to transition away from carbon and pressure multinationals to do the same. It's not a process that can happen overnight unless your population is suicidal or willing to take a huge hit to quality-of-life. What would you have them do? Just ignore the issue (like other countries with oil wealth) and enrich their elite thru bribes and cronyism (also like most countries)?
  • population of norway: 5 million.
    reliability of VW cars: 0.005.

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