In Norway, only rental companies buy gas cars, because tourists don’t ‘get’ EVs. In 2024, 88.9% of cars sold in Norway were all-electric. There have not been any widespread problems. The grid is fine, the cars work in the cold and everyone is happier with quieter roads and cleaner air.
In Norway, only rental companies buy gas cars, because tourists don’t ‘get’ EVs
by mafco
29 comments
I’ve got 3 issues with EVs:
– batteries should be universal so that as evolutions come through you can simply upgrade
– I’m not sure there is a proper secondhand market, as a seller, potentially due to point 1.
– I don’t trust all the data tracking and car as a service sort of model being put in place by manufacturers
With all that I would love to be able to retrofit my 1995 petrol van but there does not seem to be a market option just yet.
Please future prove me wrong.
Not all countries are:
1.) as small as Norway
2.) as politically aligned or culturally homogenous
3.) supportive of infrastructure investments required
4.) low population density
Also worth noting that Norway is the world’s fourth largest producer of natural gas and thirteenth for crude oil production.
They also have a well managed grid. Self sufficient, green and large enough to support the demand.
Electrek is of course a highly biased source and one should expect them to only show the positive side. Most likely the real story is the same as everywhere — some people love EVs, some people hate them, most people are in the middle. They are great for some use cases, terrible for some use cases, and mixed for most use cases.
Stop, this is too much information more maga to take in. Don’t hurt their feelings.
‘The grid is fine’
Norway is the world’s second largest producer of hydro power, which contributes almost 90% of power generation in the country.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/hydro-electricity-per-capita?tab=table
https://lowcarbonpower.org/region/Norway
It is not hard to electrify if you are blessed with the world’s best endowment of the only truly low-cost and despatchable source of renewable baseload using current technology.
Plus you’re a rich petrostate that can easily afford the capital cost for the dams and the cars.
Whilst it’s a great story, it’s not one that is easily replicable by most other countries with anywhere the same ease.
Those ICE rentals will likely see huge profit potential when it comes time for the rental car companies to resell them. With presumably fewer ICE/hybrids being available, demand for them will only go up in the country. Despite the massive EV growth, can’t tell me that there ever won’t be a market for Land Cruisers, Hiluxes, etc. in Norway.
That’s a tad annoying to say tourists “don’t get” evs.
We do, I don’t want to wait 30 mins etc at a charging station when I’m rushing to the airport and nor do I want to spend holiday time waiting for the car to charge so petrol it is.
Wow, that’s not what the media have been paid to say in the US.
This is largely due to financial incentives by the government to reduce the cost of ownership of EV cars only.
The UK government did exactly this with diesel cars back in the 1990s and 2000s, resulting in a swing from petrol (gas) car buying to diesel, only to reverse their decision in the 2010s and heavily tax diesel cars, even those already bought in the earlier incentive period, leading to immense frustration in the general public.
The government’s reasoning for BOTH incentives was environmental. Apparently diesel cars are both more environmentally efficient AND less environmentally efficient. Go figure.
All this proves is that governments can actively interfere with market economics.
It also proves that the incentives for buying EVs can (and in my opinion, will) change, leading to dissatisfaction of the general public.
EVs do not stop lifecycle CO2 emissions, they just outsource them to a different energy production method.
If I were a tourist in a cold country like Norway, I’d probably go for an ICE vehicle, too. I lived in Alaska for a few years so I don’t think I’m ignorant on how vehicles manage in the cold.
Tourist time is precious and gas car allows more room for mistakes/unexpected journey
Tell me how many countries have as much oil as Norway… a bit hypocritical, isn’t it?
Congratulations Norway 🇳🇴
Norway is like the size of 1.5 states, I regularly drive several states and out west the charging infrastructure is pretty lacking for long stretches and charging would increase my trip from one day to two days. It just is not the same here.
No way Norway will always be my favorite commercial and distant dream.
Norway has a shit ton of cheap hydro power. They also produce a shit ton of oil and gas which they export.
Also consider this.. Norway is slightly bigger than the single state of New Mexico. Right now 28% of vehicles are EV, 36% are diesel, 25% gas and 12% hybrid. There are about 5.5 million registered vehicle in Norway. With about 1.4 million EV’s. The U.S has about 284 million registered vehicles. The U.S has about 3.3 million EV’s on the road.
How do they manage to roll coal and own the libs?
I have an EV in Canada. When I go on vacation to an expensive country like Norway for a limited amount of days, I don’t want to spend half of them looking for chargers every 300km and timing everything and making sure there is one at every stop that I do. It’s very inconvenient for road trips in another country. Esp when you’re driving in rural lands most of the time. This is why I hope we keep hybrids
How much longer will it be profitable to run gas stations there?
I’ve been driving electric for 12 years in the UK. It was a bit challenging driving long distance back then but it’s not now. Anyone who says driving electric isn’t practical is an idiot.
Through which power source are they generating the electricity?
Yup.
The FUD has only really exposed the true sheep. I’m grateful for it.
Sweden is building electrified roads for EVs so eventually you never need to look for a charging station.
you lie, they hate it all, I have heard the true voice of donald speak to things like this… /s
Great for Norway. Lots of hydro electric and a small population. Otherwise, not applicable elsewhere.
‘The Scandinavian oil superpower is expected to continue investing heavily in fossil fuels in the coming years. Oil and gas companies operating in Norway expect to invest an estimated $24.68 billion in 2025, the industry association Offshore Norge announced in December.”
“The International Energy Agency has repeatedly said that further fossil fuel exploration is not compatible with its scenarios for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, meaning that Norway’s oil and gas investment is at odds with its aims for a green transition, despite its decarbonization and carbon offset efforts. Yet it seems that Norway wants to have its cake and eat it by continuing to invest heavily in oil and gas while also providing significant funding for decarbonization and a green transition.”
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