Electric cars in Norway

Norway Electric Cars Case Study

More Nissan Leaf cars were bought in Norway than in the entire United States during 2012, despite the US having a population 60 times larger.

During 2012 there were over 10,000 sales of electric vehicles, taking them to approximately 5.2% of all vehicle sales.

Electric vehicle sales are so high in Norway that the Nissan Leaf is number 13th out of the top 20 best-selling cars in the country.

How did Norway achieve such high electric vehicle sales?

So called "Comfort Incentives":

Its capital city, Oslo, allows electric vehicle drivers to use bus lanes, escaping rush hour traffic.

In Oslo parking spaces are free for electric vehicles.

Infrastructure:

Norway contains over 3,500 charging stations.

Of the charging stations, 100 of them are "fast-charging posts"

Economic Incentives

Import taxes on fuel in Norway make electric vehicles affordable and similar to petrol and diesel based vehicles.

It turns out Norway's low carbon population aren't too concerned about being green

A "green car" organisation called Gröna Bil conducted a study which found that only about 5% of drivers would choose EVs for green reasons.

The rest of drivers would only consider the low carbon alternatives if the price, convenience and comfort offered were just right.

It has also been predicted that the number of electric vehicles will continue to increase to 200,000 by 2020.

Sources

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2013/01/04/norway-electric-vehicles/#.UQbZZ7997Z5

H.Cavill