Nearly 60% of drivers who went shopping for a new car in Norway in March drove home an electric vehicle, leaving the fossil-fuelled models to gather dust.
EVs’ precise market share hit 58.4% last month, for an average of 48.4% over the first three months of 2019. Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association General Secretary Christina Bu said she expected sales to hover around 50% for the entire year, The Associated Press reports.
- The climate news you need. Subscribe now to our engaging new weekly digest.
- You’ll receive exclusive, never-before-seen-content, distilled and delivered to your inbox every weekend.
- The Weekender: Succinct, solutions-focused, and designed with the discerning reader in mind.
“Norway shows the whole world that the electric car can replace cars powered by gasoline and diesel and be an important contribution in the fight to reduce C02 emissions,” Bu said.
With a parliamentary mandate that all new cars sold must be electric by 2025, Norway is doing a great deal to boost consumer interest, waiving “hefty vehicle import duties and registration and sales taxes of electric cars to boost sales,” AP states. EV owners are also exempt from road tolls, and are permitted to use bus lanes in congested city centres.
Those perks are due to be phased out in 2021.
