Norway Says 'Mission Accomplished' On Going 100% EV, Proposes Incentive Changes (electrek.co) 131
Norway has effectively achieved its 2025 goal of 100% electric new car sales, prompting the government to declare "mission accomplished" and propose scaling back EV tax exemptions to reflect a mature market. "We have had a goal that all new passenger cars should be electric by 2025, and ... we can say that the goal has been achieved," announced Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Electrek reports: With the finish line in sight, the Norwegian government is now fine-tuning its approach. The current incentive program maintains the crucial VAT exemption for EVs, but only up to a purchase price of 500,000 Norwegian kroner (approximately $49,000 USD). This move is designed to target more expensive, luxury EVs, ensuring that the incentive benefits a broader range of consumers.
However, the latest budget proposal aims to reduce the EV tax exemption to vehicles costing 300,000 Norwegian kroner (~30,000 USD). This would apply for 2026, and then the tax exemption would completely end in 2027. Additionally, the government plans to increase taxes on new gasoline and diesel cars, further widening the cost gap between polluting and zero-emission vehicles.
However, the proposal still needs to be adopted by Norway's government, and there is some opposition. EV associations are advocating for a more extended phase-out period to ensure that the adoption rate doesn't decline.
However, the latest budget proposal aims to reduce the EV tax exemption to vehicles costing 300,000 Norwegian kroner (~30,000 USD). This would apply for 2026, and then the tax exemption would completely end in 2027. Additionally, the government plans to increase taxes on new gasoline and diesel cars, further widening the cost gap between polluting and zero-emission vehicles.
However, the proposal still needs to be adopted by Norway's government, and there is some opposition. EV associations are advocating for a more extended phase-out period to ensure that the adoption rate doesn't decline.
Don't quit just yet. (Score:2)
Gasoline and diesel cars are now obsolete in the Norwegian new car market, with a few hundred new cars per month, while EVs represent roughly 95-97%
Unless you are also going to make ICE cars intrinsically more expensive to own then you risk backsliding.
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It reminds me of incandescent light bulbs a few decades ago. Idiots were screaming they'd never use CFL or LED bulbs and spouting
Re: Don't quit just yet. (Score:2, Informative)
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I have CFLs that are 20 years old and going pretty strong. I've had better luck with CFLs than I do with LED for longevity. CFLs do have to warm up, but they are plenty bright and reasonably efficient. The increased efficiency of LEDs is quickly offset by the cost of replacing them when they burn out so frequently. LEDs can last nearly forever too, but not the way they are manufactured today with cheap components in the power supply and overdriving the LED crystals, sometimes by a factor of two. Big Cl
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The thing is, Norway is wealthy exporting its plentiful oil.
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I'd rather the profit goes into transforming their transportation system. It's not just Norway that has benefited, their pioneering the technology has helped push it forward and prove to other countries that it is not just feasible, it is highly desirable.
Oil that funds Middle Eastern states and their vanity projects, or Western oil companies who spew out FUD about climate change, they can sod off.
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I don't know of any every-day EV drivers that ever want to go back to ICE. And the EV lifestyle is getting easier every day for many people. But not all North Americans.
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First of all, a lot of people who have EVs still have an ICE so they never left. The people who have only EVs have resigned themselves to being a person who mostly drives close to home. That may be fine for them but the thought of losing the ability to just go for a long drive makes me sick.
My Equinox EV has 500 km of range. I don't think my ability to "just go for a long drive" is in any sort of danger...
Re: Don't quit just yet. (Score:2)
Re: Don't quit just yet. (Score:2)
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I assume you've never driven Chicago to D.C. (or similar) for business. I've done it many times. The longer your stops, the less sleep you get before the next day. Air travel at least in the U.S. has gotten quite expensive, so driving those sorts of distances starts to make sense pretty quickly here.
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Of course this isn't the end of it because there are still plenty of petrol / diesel cars on the road, and large vehicles like trucks but attrition will mean in 10 years
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Internal Combustion Engines ARE more expensive to own.
They are cheap to make and cheap to sell. But maintenance and fuel costs are significantly higher. Especially in Norway.
Norway is powered almost entirely (over 95%) by hydroelectric dams. And they have little to no petroleum deposits. So electricity is far cheaper than gasoline/diesel.
As for maintenance, electric cars have far fewer moving parts. Basically the wheels. No movement = no wear and tear. You know those non-car people that ask don't ch
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They are cheap to make and cheap to sell. But maintenance and fuel costs are significantly higher. Especially in Norway.
Hopefully it will be enough to keep people from considering them. Humans are remarkably shortsighted when it comes to money.
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No oil? What are you talking about? Norway's economy has been powered by oil exports for years. They have so much they put the oil money in a big fund called Oljefondet (oil fund) which is now valued at $2 trillion! They wisely use all this money to invest in hydro and other renewables, and to push the EV transition. Very wise on their part. But make no mistake, their wealth came from oil!
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Biggest impediment in north America is price. But then again all vehicles in North America are crazy expensive now and the used market is really bad.
But like I said, I don't know of anyone that daily drives an EV that would want to go back to ICE for daily commuting.
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Then you have the MAGA brain-damaged, conspiratorial, & protectionist view of the world that EVs are evil, China is evil, WEF 15 minute cities etc so therefore let's all buy 15mpg pickup trucks.
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If EVs were the end-all-be-all that every EV pimp on the planet says they are, then there shouldn’t be any risk.
Plenty of people are selfish assholes who would choose to sacrifice the lives of people they will never meet if it means they can save a buck.
You should know this because you are one of those people.
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Re: Don't quit just yet. (Score:2)
Re: Don't quit just yet. (Score:2)
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Well, yes, you do, because the BMS keeps track of that.
A gas car, on the other hand....
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To be fair, not wanting to spend $40k+ on a vehicle you aren't absolutely sure will fit into your life is just being prudent, not selfish.
1) Have you seen the prices of cars in NL?
2) It's still idiotic because an ICEV will cost more in the long run due to fuel and maintenance.
3) Being prudent and being selfish are not mutually exclusive.
But you buy a used car and you have no idea what previous owners did to the battery.
1) All EVs keep a record of the battery's condition as a result of charge/discharge rates and temperature. They use well the documented behavior of battery cells to keep track. Like the odometer record, it's not something you can erase from memory.
2) This is more true about ICEVs because it doesn't keep a reco
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That's good to know that they keep track of the battery. I'm still waiting for the ranges to get longer, so no thanks on buying a car with a reduced range.
In an ICE you can fix he part of the engine that broke. Yes I have had engines totally fail on me. The last time it happened I had it swapped out for $500.
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> If EVs were the end-all-be-all that every EV pimp on the planet says they are, then there shouldnâ(TM)t be any risk. I mean, the Marketing department would never lie, right?
Hi there; Norwegian here. Not an EV pimp, but rather a guy that bought a used Tesla Model S 2014 back in 2018.
In my "price range", I've never had a nicer car to drive. It's fast, it's fun. Charging has never been a problem for me, but I can imagine it being troublesome for folks who drive long distances often. I charge duri
No way! (Score:5, Funny)
Someone better hurry up and tell Norway that winter is coming and EVs don't work in winter!
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Someone better hurry up and tell Norway that winter is coming and EVs don't work in winter!
Ned Stark tried that - and, well, we all saw how that turned out for him.
Re:No way! (Score:4, Interesting)
Most of the very populated parts of Norway don't get too cold, but other parts definitely do! In Alberta Canada, EV range drops to about 2/3 when it's very cold, and you really need to keep it plugged in overnight (or in a garage) to keep the battery warm. But 2/3 range is quite amazing actually, given cabin heating on top of batteries running colder.
Re:No way! (Score:5, Interesting)
I think as we see sodium ion batteries become more prevalent that they'll become very popular in colder climates because of their better performance in lower temperatures. As you say, most cars need heat pumps to warm up the battery for charging otherwise.
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Most of the populated parts of Norway have winter lows that only just cross into sub-zero. The winter lows rarely drop below -5C which isn't cold by any measure. Nights where it gets -15C are incredibly rare, and days even more so. Norway is considered the most temperate country in its latitude. It's just not that cold and it's only just at the threshold where an EV would even bother taking any kind of action to maintain the battery. Even without any kind of special engineering EV range just isn't dramatica
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My parents lived in a sweden for a while not that long ago. In Stockholm, which is pretty warm, there are lots of EVs, and in fact teenagers can get licenses to drive very small, speed-limited cars, and many of those are now EVs.
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> Most of the very populated parts of Norway don't get too cold,
methinks that we have very different notions of "too cold" . . .
("Above" and "below" should never be part of a temperature!)
hawk
Re: No way! (Score:3)
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Norway achieved (essentially) 100% EV sales by eliminating all VAT and Tariffs on new EVs up to 500,000 Kr, $50K US....
The majority of cars on the road in Norway are likely still ICE cars, bought before the EV incentives went into effect.
When a Norwegian buyer went into the showroom, there could have been up to a 50% price difference, with the EV being half the price of the similar ICE vehicles.
This is great and all, but few governments charge similar VAT and taxes on cars, and if they do, they likely lack
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Re: Rich People Buy New Cars (Score:2)
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Re: Rich People Buy New Cars (Score:2)
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Re: Rich People Buy New Cars (Score:2)
Redemption for supply of 2% of Global Oil and Gas? (Score:2)
...erm oil and gas don't kill it's just the way you use them.
But, this is good. If we have to burn stuff, better to do it in one place generating juice and manage it better, rather than travelling all over the place and not managing it at all. Aside from C02, think smog, asthma, copd and general grubbiness in polluted cities.
And respect to Norway for their sovereign wealth fund and welfare state. Hear the king is pretty cool too. Can I emigrate, is Norwegian hard to learn?
Norway (Score:4, Insightful)
This (Score:3)
Norway polishes its enviromental halo in one hand while making an absolute killing by selling oil and gas to the rest of the world. Their sovereign wealth fund which is almost exclusively funded by fossil fuels is currently valued at 2 TRILLION dollars.
No one does enviromental hypocrisy like the Norwegians.
Re: This (Score:2)
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Gas cars lose comparable range in cold weather, so...?
https://www.energy.gov/energys... [energy.gov]
And when you mix in 'you can preheat your cabin while still connnected to your charger,' EVs lose *less* range than gas cars.
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Norway isn't one of the top oil producing countries in the world [wikipedia.org] and they're way behind the top producers in volume. They're known as an oil nation because of a small population relative to the amount of hydrocarbons they produce. More to the point, they never put a gun to anyone's head to force them to buy their oil (or perhaps, never sent a team of Viking berserkers to intimidate people into buying their oil). If people weren't buying their oil, they'd be buying from Saudis instead.
Oil is used for a lot m
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Well done on completely missing the point. Its no different in principle to a group promoting healthy eating yet making its money selling burgers and doughnuts down the road.
If you believe in the enviroment leave the oil in the ground or make sure it only gets sold to companies for manufacturing purposes, not as fuel.
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Well done on completely missing the point. Its no different in principle to a group promoting healthy eating yet making its money selling burgers and doughnuts down the road.
There's some hypocrisy but I'm not sure what path you're suggesting here. Should Norway stop pumping gas/oil so that people go buy it from Saudi/Iran/Russia/USA/Venezuela instead? They'd make no meaningful impact on global hydrocarbon usage, and leave their people worse off in the process.
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Not sure whats so difficult to understand. Practice what you preach is a well known phrase, maybe you've heard of it. I'm not talking about overall oil consumption, I'm talking hypocrisy - google its meaning. You're probably the sort of person who'd see nothing wrong with a doctor telling someone to stop smoking for their health while sitting behind his desk puffing away.
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So... your recommendation would be the "make no meaningful impact on global hydrocarbon usage, and leave their people worse off in the process" approach?
You're probably the sort of person who'd see nothing wrong with a doctor telling someone to stop smoking for their health while sitting behind his desk puffing away.
The flaw in this analogy is that the doctor could stop smoking and improve their health in the exact same way that they're encouraging their patient to do. The Norwegians can't stop pumping oil and have any meaningful positive environmental impact. But regardless, I think professionally duty requires that even a chain-smoking doctor advise that their pati
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I really don't know why you have a problem with the analogy, the meaning of the word hypocrisy or you're just playing devils advocate because you're bored. Either way, I think I'll just file you under "idiot" and leave it there.
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If you believe in the enviroment leave the oil in the ground
If, starting from tomorrow, every single oil-producing country completely stopped selling any oil, civilization would collapse within, maybe, a few years. As it stands, trucks, shipping vessels, airplanes, concrete producing factories and many other essential things all run on hydrocarbons. For many developing nations almost all their power stations need oil or gas or coal. In order to combat climate change we need to come up with ways all these things can still function without needing oil anymore. Like, f
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So let the developing nations pump the oil then. A nation with 2 trillion in the bank doesn't need to especially while pretending to be green by mandating EVs on the population.
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Norway is sitting on a lot of oil, they only drill/produce less than they could.
Their wealth is from state ownership of the oil, and they use that wealth to help fund the govt, but let's not pretend Norway is some low-tax utopia, the citizens pay a healthy tax rate on most things (except, of course, EVs)
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Yes we should do so. Every country made most of its money exploiting a usually dirty history and natural resource. The difference is Norway invested that money into a fund for its future while most other countries blow it on meaningless expenses that provide no benefit to its citizens.
Because all that oil was sold with an agreement not to burn it, right?
If you're going to point out the indignities of the past as a reason to not support something in the future I remind you you once came screaming and crying bleeding out of a woman's vagina. But we won't hold that against you.
Just a lie.. (Score:2)
numbers (Score:2)
Population of Norway: 5.6 million.
Population of USA: 340 million
Number of cars in Norway: 2.9 million
Number of cars in USA: 285 million.
What can or should be done in Norway has absolutely nothing to do with the US.
So what, all 12 people? (Score:2)
Norway is only 5.5 million people. NY city alone is 8.5 million and Norway is the size of an average US state. Who really cares what they do, they are pretty insignificant to the world in general.
I get it, you hate flush door handles (Score:2)
Range Rover Velar has electronic flush door handles and a 5.0L V8. So I don't know if you hate EVs or hate being burned alive inside your car.
Maybe that's just a one-off? Well there's the Cadillac CTS-V, with a 5.7L V8.
Tesla S is just one of many EVs. A few others go with those silly flush door handles and several others do not.
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Range Rover Velar has electronic flush door handles and a 5.0L V8. So I don't know if you hate EVs or hate being burned alive inside your car. Maybe that's just a one-off? Well there's the Cadillac CTS-V, with a 5.7L V8.
Tesla S is just one of many EVs. A few others go with those silly flush door handles and several others do not.
You managed to highlight arguably two of THE worst automobile makers on the fucking planet, to justify their design decisions?
Not even the EE who designed the fucking thing will work on a Range Rover electrical issue. The Caddy broke down before it could even make it your argument. No one likes the risk of dying for a fucking door handle that’s unjustified below 180MPH. No one has justified it yet.
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You managed to highlight arguably two of THE worst automobile makers on the fucking planet, to justify their design decisions?
I didn't justify anything. I only cited counter examples to show that shitty design is not unique to EVs.
If you want to rail against EVs, you'll have to pick a different reason.
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They did not ban the sale of gasoline cars, just incentivized EV sales. There will be a tax penalty on new gas/diesel sales in a few years but *not today*. I think you underestimate how expensive petrol is in the EU vs electricity. Norwegians aren't driving 200km a day in their car for the most part, its city driving, which is also the least efficient and therefore the most expensive.
Fuck Tesla anyway, most of the cars being sold in Norway are Chinese models.
Re:End driving (Score:4, Insightful)
Shoes create a lot of rubber pollution too. When the tread wears off on your shoes where do you think it goes? And don't get me started on all the problems associated with bicycles.
I mean these problems are MINUSCULE compared to the measurable environment problems in industry and agriculture. But let's not ignore them, that's because it's fun to argue about absolutely unhinged stupid shit on the Internet.
Re:End driving (Score:4, Insightful)
Shoes create a lot of rubber pollution too. When the tread wears off on your shoes where do you think it goes? And don't get me started on all the problems associated with bicycles.
I mean these problems are MINUSCULE compared to the measurable environment problems in industry and agriculture. But let's not ignore them, that's because it's fun to argue about absolutely unhinged stupid shit on the Internet.
We cannot “end” driving, but we sure as shit had a golden opportunity to eliminate fucking pointless driving.
IT knew 20+ years ago with RDP. COVID proved it 5 years ago. We had every opportunity to embrace remote work. Greed destroyed that. Every bicycle and shoe tread argument, is pathetic by comparison to that corruption.
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Exactly this, eliminating pointless driving will reduce transport emissions more quickly and effectively than anything else.
X11 had built in remote support long before RDP, Telnet and serial terminals existed way before that too.
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Almost all driving is pointless driving. You should be able to get everything you need on foot. After that there should be good public transit. Other than maybe for the disabled and emergency vehicles, cars should never be necessary.
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Almost all driving is pointless driving. You should be able to get everything you need on foot. After that there should be good public transit. Other than maybe for the disabled and emergency vehicles, cars should never be necessary.
If you wish to get back to a world without cars, then you had better remember how people survived back then. As farmers. First and foremost. Out of absolute necessity. Good luck even getting a plot of viable land with good soil for yourself. Much less every other citizen family needing to plant to survive. Water? You mean like safe to grow food in, or just safe by Flint tap water standards? At some point even plants won’t drink what the EPA says is potable.
Only “emergencies” and
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Disabled wouldn't even get personal cars. That is just a symptom of our horribly designed towns and cities. It really is something when you see a disabled placard on someone's giant F-250. You just know they're an old selfish prick.
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The first settlements in America were things like the Dutch colony that eventually became NYC. Or Jamestown Virginia. Or if you want to go further back, St. Augustine Florida. Or going even further back, the pueblos or Mayans. Even the nomadic plains indians and inuit live in settlements together. Out West, they built forts and the forts eventually became c
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If you wish to get back to a world without cars, then you had better remember how people survived back then.
Back then? I suppose they got on metros, planes, trains, cars, used share scooters, or just called a taxi?
A world without roads congested with cars isn't a world pre-1900. If that's what you need to do to make your case then you have already lost the arguement.
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Almost all driving is pointless driving. You should be able to get everything you need on foot. After that there should be good public transit.
A surprisingly large number of Americans aren't even willing to accept the range limitations of EVs as reasonable, and that basically boils down to having to make a stop for 30 minutes rather than 5. The idea that we should be limited to the stores and restaurants within walking distance, and beholden to a train and/or bus schedule for everything else represents significantly more compromise than slightly longer pit stops.
Honestly, my take on it has been if you enjoy urban living, fine, you do you. I like
Re: End driving (Score:2)
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Most of the urban noise comes from cars! I had a nice place in a dead end street in a major East coast city and it was very quiet at night. If we had more residential streets closed to through traffic or so-called "superblocks" it would be very peaceful in our cities most of the time.
Re:End driving (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because your city is designed wrong.
Walkable cities have always been a thing. Only in America were cities designed around the car.
Re:End driving (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly. I live in America and I'm in one of those underfunded, unsustainable suburb type cities in Florida (they are everywhere). It sucks having to drive everywhere. I even tried walking to the convenience store which is about a 15 minute walk from my house but it is *extremely* dangerous (America: safety last). The people are unhealthy and miserable. You can bet a lot of that is because everything is so spread out for no reason other than racism and car-centrism.
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Only in America were cities designed around the car.
That's not true. It's more pronounced in the US, yes, but not unique to it. There was a time in the 1960s and 70s where maybe not whole cities but new developments were designed around the car in other countries too. And even nowadays this happens way too often.
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It's a continual struggle everywhere. Here, in Switzerland, the population recently voted to reject a number of extensions to the highway system, preferring to invest more in our excellent public transport system. The job of the politicians in parliament is to implement the referendum the public has voted on.
So what do the politicians do? They commission a study that examines the best places to invest transport money - funny, how it proposes extending the highway system at the expense of public transport.
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Not just America. Most British cities are pretty crap too.
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That's because your city is designed wrong.
Walkable cities have always been a thing. Only in America were cities designed around the car.
Two notes:
1) American cities werne't designed around the car. They were bulldozed for the sake of the car. American cities mostly were designed for walking and horse drawn carriages. America changed that.
2) America changed. It could change again. Many European cities were following American footsteps, they made a conscious decision to go the other way. The Netherlands in the 1960s was a car mecca. It isn't now. Those wonderful bikepaths are recent. Those public squares in cities they used to be literal park
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It's not a situation where mega-cities don't need cars, or where cities don't n
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I can only guess that people like you can't undertake or fathom that a large majority of people out here, ENJOY our lifestyle and the city designs and types that support them....eh?
I'm sure many of you do. Lots of people enjoy things when they don't know any better.
and depend on public transport and their schedules and shoehorn my life into someone else's timetable....
I don't know what those words mean. It sounds like an Americanism. I've never looked up a timetable or a schedule or done any shoehorning. I'm going to another city for Friday drinks today. I know I need to be there at 4pm so I will leave at around 3:15pm. We have functional public transport that means there is public transport, I don't look up schedules I just know there's likely to be a train within a few minutes of me sh
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We cannot “end” driving, but we sure as shit had a golden opportunity to eliminate fucking pointless driving.
You still can. Just look at the Netherlands. In the 60s the Netherlands was a car mecca. It was following American style city design (including actually importing American city designers). They had grand plans to bulldoze poor neighbourhoods to build highways, heck at one point even the IJ in Amsterdam was proposed to be filled with concrete and turned into an inner city mega highway.
The PEOPLE pushed back. The PEOPLE were the ones who said this car centric living is bullshit. The PEOPLE were the ones who r
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The ol' USA is too big argument. The same argument that ignores the urbanisation rates of countries is similar. The same argument that ignores the population and thus national capabilities of the USA is larger (let's ignore for your sake the point that the GDP and economic efficiency of the USA is far higher than the Netherlands).
It just sounds like the greatest nation in the world is incapable of doing what other smaller nations do. Why would you live in such a shithole?
If more people in the US actually wanted less cars and "walkable cities"....we'd have them.
People want what they are told to wa
Tell us where you work at... (Score:2)
So we can get you fired as a crap manager, a bully who got suckered by AI hype and shows his patriotism by offshoring jobs to the cheapest supplier.
Pathetic
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Tired drivel (Score:2)
I agree. But my post was intentional hyperbole to question at what point we draw the line for discussing insignificant pollution versus the overwhelmingly larger portion. If I bring up fossil fuels versus electric cars, and someone wants to chime in a whataboutism and rant about tires, then I think we have a duty to push back on nonsense with more nonsense.
And poking around, while there isn't data on shoe rubber contributing to the environment. We do have data on the significant portion of environmental mic
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Let's wait until Aperture Science Quantum Tunneling Devices are invented. Then its only a few steps from bed to office.
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