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Norway Reaches 97% EV Sales as EVs Now Outnumber Diesels On Its Roads (electrek.co) 199

Norway has released its December and full year 2025 automotive sales numbers and the world's leading EV haven has broken records once again. The country had previously targeted an end to fossil car sales in 2025, and it basically got there. From a report: In 2017, Norway set a formal non-binding target to end fossil car sales in the country by 2025 -- a target earlier than any other country in the world by several years. Norway was already well ahead of the world in EV adoption, with about a third of new cars being electric at the time -- but it wanted to schedule the final blow for just 8 years later, fairly short as far as automotive timelines go.

At the time, many (though not us at Electrek) considered this to be an optimistic goal, and figured that it might get pushed back. But Norway did not budge in its target (unlike more cowardly nations). And it turns out, when you set a realistic goal, craft policy around it, and don't act all wishy-washy or change your mind every few years, you can actually get things done. (In fact, Europe currently has around the same EV sales level as Norway did 10 years ahead of its 100% goal -- which means Europe's former 100% 2035 goal is still eminently achievable)

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Norway Reaches 97% EV Sales as EVs Now Outnumber Diesels On Its Roads

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  • by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @04:18PM (#65918932)

    Good for them! As one of the world's largest exporters of oil, they shouldn't be wasting it on domestic uses.

    • Ironic, huh? Kudo's for them for using their resources well, and providing a good quality of life for their citizens.
      • The hypocrisy of funding their countries "green" lifestyle by selling crude tends to stick in peoples throats.

        • Why? Has the nation or Norway made statement chastising the rest of the world for using oil? Have they made hypocritical statements?

          Or is this just how you perceive them based on the news you hear?

          You don't actually even have to even believe in climate change or harmful emissions at all to acknowledge the advantages of electric vehicles. Even Suadi Arabia is targeting 50k chargers by 2030 and a big EV investment.

        • Kind of like Texas. Most of our local electricity is "green", and we sell our oil and gas to other states.
        • I don't think it's hypocrisy - just intelligent planning. I suppose they could have done what other oil-rich nations might do e.g. spend the money buying a Rolls-Royce in every color or perhaps by spending billions in the war machinery but their focus is elsewhere and that's not a bad thing.

          When a highly education, relatively low population, oil-rich country with a very cold climate and dispersed population makes this kind of news, we should be celebrating their results instead of trying to find every f
        • by Sique ( 173459 )
          The hypocrisy of calling other people hypocritical just because you don't like EVs, because you associate a messaging with EVs you don't like either!

          Norway has large resources of hydroelectricity, and this is not as easily exported as oil. It just makes economical sense to put the domestic electricity to good use instead of burning oil you could sell abroad. It has nothing to do with being green, but all with being business savvy. But instead of acknowledging how someone can sell stuff he does not need, y

        • There's nothing hypocritical about it. The difference is that they invested the gains of their resources while other countries are blowing it on whatever. There is nothing to be gained by not having this money. Oil is a 100% fungible asset. Norway not pumping oil will not result in you not filling your car, all it will result is in you filling your car directing profits to someone other than Norway who may as stupidly as the UK not spend it on meaningfully reducing emissions.

          Please stop making a fool of you

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          If they didn't do this, you wouldn't stop using oil. Because they have done it, EV sales have increased all over Europe and the rest of the world. The tech has advanced faster than it would have, and demand for oil is lower than it would have been.

          In the imperfect world we live in, they did the right thing.

    • by Vanyle ( 5553318 )

      You know what they say, don't get high on your supply.

  • I like EVs and all. But elektrek buries the lede, but at least mentions it:

    a) 2/3rds of registered cars still fossil. so about 1/3 electric 1/3 diesel 1/3 gas

    But even with this victory, Norway isn’t ready to sit still. OFV director Geir Inge Stokke took the moment to remind everyone that “two out of three passenger cars on the road still run on fossil fuels.. so even though this is an important milestone, we must continue working towards an emission-free vehicle fleet.”

    b) The EV sales for the 2nd half of the year were juiced because of expiring incentives.

    The end-of-year surge in EV sales was helped by retiring incentives. Earlier this year, Norway declared victory on its 100% EV goal, and changed the generous incentive structure that had helped the country reach these heights.

    The incentive will now be reduced for more expensive EVs (those costing over 300k NOK, or ~$30k), which led to a rush to buy higher-priced EVs, including Teslas.

    (those are discounts via VAT exemptions. so i think they became like 25% discounts. This year they dropped the price limit from $50k to ~$30K they're fully expiring by 2027. But they also promised to crank up ICE taxes even more to "make sure E

    • seems to me that electric cars are simple, they don't make much noise, and don't burp out CO2. I hope this does become a case study on the benefits of EV's, and people wise up. The "drill baby drill" message seems kind of stupid while the Saudi's are flooding the world with oil, and drilling new wells are not profitable.
      • by rta ( 559125 )

        seems to me that electric cars are simple, they don't make much noise, and don't burp out CO2.

        Modern electric cars are AWESOME, as long as you have a place to charge them on the cheap every night or three (like at your house).

        Then they're in the same ballpark as gas cars in terms of TCO. (they're cheaper to run and have cheaper maintenance, but it's not clear if you come out ahead at 3 , 5 , 10 years ownership. so same ballpark).

        At public charging, gas is slightly cheaper (most places in the US, but not always). And maybe it'll take an extra maybe 2 hours per 1000 miles (assuming newish EV usin

    • by shilly ( 142940 )

      Bit silly to say they buried the lede. *You* may consider the only important metric to be installed base, but many other people over many years consider percentage share of new sales to be a very important metric too, because it speaks to future market direction and isn't affected by things like scrappage age. The current rate of replacement, by the way, is about 7 percentage points a year. So another ten years or so till the installed base is all converted. (170k new EV sales a year, 1.5m fossil fuel cars

  • by nealric ( 3647765 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @06:08PM (#65919242)

    The main difference is that Norway isn't dependent on manufacturing capacity. The Norwegian market can easily be met with existing EV manufacturing capacity. If a country like the U.S. wanted to completely convert, you'd need the automakers to massively scale EV production. That can't be done as quickly as simply switching buying patterns. China is actually going the route of scaling manufacturing, but they are still around 50/50 for new car sales with EV/gas and China is pretty unmatched when it comes to scaling up manufacturing.

    • by shilly ( 142940 )

      European OEMs are doing fine in scaling EV manufacturing capacity to meet demand. Manufacturing capacity isn't the bottleneck. Consumer sentiment, government policies, OEM profitability, are bottlenecks.

  • by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @06:40PM (#65919336) Homepage
    Just because a vehicle has an electrical driver system--doesn't mean that it is environmentally friendly. Case in point: you could power 760 Class-3 ebikes if you take one Tesla Plaid off of the road. In engineering there is a saying: there is no free lunch. The power has to come from somewhere.
    • by shilly ( 142940 )

      Environmental friendliness is a continuum, not a binary.

      Once again for the people who need to hear it: active transport > public transport > private EVs >>> private ICE cars.

  • by ffkom ( 3519199 ) on Monday January 12, 2026 @07:24PM (#65919464)
    ... combined with extra high taxes on combustion engine cars plus low electricity prices and a population that is reasonably wealthy and often has a place to charge their own car at would make a difference for EV adoption. But it's getting tiring to read this same story time and again, while it does not change the different circumstances not favoring EVs elsewhere.
    • while it does not change the different circumstances not favoring EVs elsewhere.

      Circumstances change. I didn't favour EV in the slightest, how would I charge it, it's so inconvenient. Even with subsidies I had no intention of buying an EV. Then I moved to a different country, ironically one with *lower* incentives for EVs and bought an EV. Why? Because that country changed the circumstances.

      Taxes and subsidies alone don't make something viable. Norway has insanely good infrastructure for EVs, so does where I live now. Infrastructure that makes owning EVs less of a hassle than owning an

  • Gas price USD 8/gallon
    Electricity 0.15/kwh

    Compare that to California:
    Gas prices: USD 4.2/ga
    Electricity: 0.35/kwh.

    If you get 3.5 miles/kwh and 28 miles/ga and drive 12000/yr, your fuel cost saving in California is USD 600/yr. Not enough to justify range anxiety, future battery replacement cost and higher initial investment.

    For Norway, it would be close to USD 3000/yr. Definitely worth it.

    • Good point and stats as a reference. Now consider that in much of California, gas is mid $3 range and if you need to charge on the road, it's running around $.47/kwh. I just did a road trip this weekend. Tesla superchargers can be $.35 if you fill up off peak. And, if you put gas in the car off the freeway, it's more like $4+ range, but that's the beauty of gas cars, a 250 mile road trip is easy on a single tank of gas so you fill up where it's cheaper in the home neighborhoods.

      And I drive a Model Y. It's a

  • There are about 750k petrol and 970k diesels left on Norwegian roads, and 170k EVs are bought each year. So the fleet will be roughly 100% plugin after another decade. A bit more complicated because obviously there’s about 15% share of hybrid/PHEV also, and there’ll be a long tail, etc. But the transition will be basically done in a decade, with non-EVs being like CRT TVs or CD players.

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