Norway Poised to Become First Nation to Use All Electric Cars

What Happened?

The Scandinavian country, Norway has been slowly gaining ground as a leader in the use of all-electric vehicles in the past ten years.

Now Norway is poised to become the first country in the world where drivers use only electric vehicles for transportation. 

Data from the Norwegian Road Federation indicates that in 2024, 88.9% of all car sales were for electric vehicles, up from 82.4% in 2023. It was also the first year in Norway where the number of electric vehicles on the highways outnumbered vehicles with internal combustion engines.

In the second half of 2024, sales of electric vehicles accounted for 98% of total vehicle sales in Norway.

Why it Matters

Internal combustion engine vehicles are still available for purchase in Norway, but few Norwegians are choosing to buy them. Instead of banning internal combustion engine vehicles, the Norwegian government has implemented a series of policies designed to steer consumer preferences towards electric vehicles.

For example, internal combustion vehicles in Norway now cost more to register, and the administrative steps required to do so take longer and are more difficult for owners to accomplish.

To avoid the extra costs and wait, many consumers in Norway are opting to buy electric vehicles. In addition, there are also incentives for buying an electric vehicle, such as no sales tax, free parking and discounted tolls on roadways.

European Union countries have been moving towards electric vehicles for the past two decades, but Norway leads the pack in terms of electric vehicle use as a percentage of their population. The European Union has stated plans to ban the sale of internal combustion vehicles by 2035.

Norway offers an interesting environment for electric car use from a technical standpoint. Because of extreme cold weather the battery range on electric vehicles tends to be about 20% shorter than in warmer climates. Yet the cold hasn’t been a problem for drivers.

That’s because of a network of charging stations available across the country.

How it Affects You

Tesla (TSLA), Volkswagen (VOW), and Toyota (TM) were Norway's top-selling EV brands last year. Meanwhile, Chinese-owned marques — such as Polestar and XPeng — now make up a combined 10% of the market, according to data from the Norwegian Road Federation.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC):

‘Norway is also a very wealthy nation, which thanks to its huge oil and gas exports, has a sovereign wealth fund worth more than $1.7tn (£1.3tn). This means it can more easily afford big infrastructure-build projects and absorb the loss of tax revenue from the sale of petrol and diesel cars and their fuel.’

The growing use of electric vehicles in a relatively wealthy country like Norway could mean the adoption of EVs will be slower and more difficult in countries with less wealth and weaker economies.