Oil is fundamental in Norway. The country is a European power in this sense, so much so that crude oil—and gas—has been linked to the economic growth of the country, which channeled its oil income into the Pension Fund. The importance is such that, while Russia threatened the rest of the continent for its support for Ukraine, Norwegian oil and gas helped make a record cash in 2023. However, despite this, Norway is the bastion of the electric car in Europe .
So much so that it already has more electric cars than gasoline cars on its roads. And they do not plan to stop until 100% of the vehicle fleet is electric.
Electric shock. In a statement from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), it is stated that of the 2.8 million private cars currently registered in the country, 754,303 are fully electric, while 753,905 are gasoline-powered.
History. Øyvind Solberg Thorsen is the director of the OFV and has commented that “it is a historic event, a milestone that few saw coming 10 years ago. The electrification of the personal car fleet is advancing at a rapid pace and Norway is taking leaps and bounds to become the first country in the world with a personal car fleet dominated by electric vehicles.”
Diesel continues to reign. Despite everything, the majority of Norway’s private car fleet is diesel. Yes, electric cars are the ones that dominate new registrations and there are already more electric cars than gasoline ones. That’s all true, but it’s also true that there are almost a million diesel cars still on the roads.
|
Total |
Percentage |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Diesel |
999.715 |
34,80% |
|
Electric |
754.303 |
26,26% |
|
Gasoline |
753.905 |
26,24% |
|
Plug-in gasoline hybrid |
198.707 |
6,92% |
|
gasoline hybrid |
155.307 |
5,41% |
|
plug-in diesel hybrid |
9.478 |
0,33% |
|
diesel hybrid |
896 |
0,03% |
|
LNG |
173 |
0,01% |
|
Hydrogen |
167 |
0,01% |
|
Total |
2.872.652 |
– |
With this data, we can also see that a good part of the pie of the 2.8 million private cars in Norway are gasoline hybrids. Virtually no one is betting on diesel hybrids, much less LNG or hydrogen. However, Thorsen is confident that, at the pace the industry is going, the electric car will surpass the diesel car in 2026 due to the drop in registrations of cars of this type (1.2 million diesel cars in 2017 compared to less than one million currently). .
The new registrations. Thorsen also predicts a growth in the fleet of personal vehicles, from the current 2.8 million to around 3.1 million by 2030, but what is clear is that, if things do not change, the tendency to choose the car electric will remain.
In 2020, 54% of new car sales in the country corresponded to electric cars. This figure has increased to 84% by 2024 and it is expected that, in 2025, 100% of new car sales will be electric or hydrogen. If we look at specific months, in August alone 94.3% of new registrations belonged to electric vehicles thanks, in part, to the boost of the Tesla Model Y.
The Price of cargo. Curiously, Norway has the highest cargo prices in Europe. If charging a Tesla Model 3 for 25 minutes in Iceland or Portugal costs 2.9 euros or 3.2 euros respectively, in Norway the meter goes to 18.9 euros. But it is clear that it is something that is not affecting the country’s slightly more than five million inhabitants when deciding what type of propulsion their new car will have.
Now we just have to wait to see when the next milestone in this electrification of Norwegian roads will occur, the switch to diesel, and if Thorsen’s prediction comes true. 2026 is just around the corner and the electric car has gotten its act together.
Image | Emil Dosen
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