Rebecca Manzi In Norway the number of electric cars has surpassed that of petrol cars, with the aim of eliminating sales of new fossil fuel cars by 2025
@Ed Harvey/Pexels
In September 2024, Norway made history by becoming the first country in the world to have more electric cars on the road than those running on gasoline. According to the Norwegian Road Federation, OFV, out of 2.8 million registered private cars, 754,303 are fully electric, thereby outnumbering the 753,905 gasoline vehicles for the very first time.
It is a major success for Norway further down the roadmap towards a sustainable low-carbon future. Yet, despite currently being one of the world’s biggest producers of oil and gas, the Nordic nation has set an ambitious goal of phasing out the sale of new fossil fuel cars by 2025.
This target was supported by various kinds of favorable government policies toward purchases of electric vehicles, generous tax incentives that have made the electric car competitively comparable in price with gasoline or diesel-powered ones, free parking, exemption from urban tolls by authorities, and a wide network of charging points- over 2,000 in Oslo alone.
94.3% of new car sales are electric vehicles
Norway’s road to electric cars has been partly facilitated by the fact that it has used its revenues from oil resources to finance its green programs. With a sovereign wealth fund worth over $1.7 trillion, it was able to finance and invest in the future of electric cars and make them reachable and not too costly for the people.
While diesels remain the most prolific at just under one million on the road, gasoline cars are fast becoming fewer and farther between. These sales, though, are also in a state of fast decline. In August 2024, fully electric vehicles comprised an impressive 94.3% of new car sales, driven by models such as Tesla Model Y.
In contrast, European electric car sales have recovered well from their slow pace in the previous months, with electric vehicles accounting for just 12.5% of new registrations on the continent. Such a comparison places Norway among the pioneering countries on Earth regarding transitioning to transport electrification and among the leading countries in the adoption of green technologies.
U.S. electric vehicle market witnesses steady growth
By contrast, the adoption of electric vehicles in the United States has been more gradual. For 2024, EVs reached about 8.5% of new car sales, or about 1.5 million, up from around 6% in 2023. The number is significantly higher than in previous years, buoyed by growing interest among consumers and rapidly expanding charging infrastructure, among other factors. Gasoline-powered vehicles remain the majority of nearly 290 million cars on U.S. roads.
The U.S. government is taking a set of incentives in the form of tax credits and subsidies to accelerate the advent of electric vehicles. But all these dreams are put to rest by limited infrastructure for charging and generally higher upfront vehicle costs.
