Back in 2017, Norway was praised to be the country that is paving the way for “zero emission transportation”. As Norway was the world’s top electric car market due to its cheap electricity and sovereign wealth fund. However, now Norway has begun to rethink its unique relationship with EVs.
Tesla have an incredibly strong presence in Norway, the Model 3 ended up being 25% of all total new cars that were sold in Norway in the last year. Throughout this journal article, I am going to elaborate upon the unique relationship that Norway has with EV vehicles.
In 2022, about 88% of all cars sold in Norway were electric cars which has increased when it was 56% back in 2019. Over the years Norway has gone through a process of having both economic and social invectives that were designed to make EVs significantly more affordable. Some of these incentives have been free tolls, free parking, and tax exemptions.
Initially, Norway was a golden example of what other countries in Europe were striving to achieve. However, recently in 2023, they have started to backpedal quite rapidly. It was found that the aggressive EV push in Norway has played a role in worsening inequality for Norwegian citizens. Now Norway has issued various warnings about the dangers of promoting EVs at the expense of modes of transport that can be more beneficial for both the environment as well as the urban lifestyle.
The mayor of Oslo, Ruohonen gave wise words of advice “The mistake is to think that EVs solve all your problems when it comes to transport. They don’t.”
Through the aggressive incentives of the EV promotions, have begun to affect the amount of funding available to invest in transit improvements for public transportation. It was also threatening a new metro line in Oslo.
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