Written by / Zhang Ou
Editor/ Qian Yaguang
Design / Shi Yuchao
Source/ The New York Times by Shira Ovide
While we're still imagining what the future of electrified cities will look like, Norway is already far ahead. According to the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), in 2021, Norwegian dealers sold a total of 176276 cars, of which 65% were pure electric vehicles and 28% were hybrids. These figures are out of reach in many countries.
Electrification in Norway
As early as 2018, Norway's penetration rate of pure electric vehicles has reached 31%, increasing to 42% in 2019 and 54% in 2020. The Norwegian government's ultimate goal is that by 2025 all new cars will be pure electric vehicles.
According to the current upward momentum, the norwegian fuel vehicle era may be 100% over in Norway by April 2022 – that is, three months later.
In 2021, the Tesla Model 3 is the most popular model for consumers, followed by Toyota's hybrid RAV4 — which is also the only internal combustion engine car to make it into the country's top 10 best-selling models.
In addition to private purchases, electric vehicles purchased by companies and car rental companies also accounted for 42.6% of car purchases.
From 2015 to 2022, the proportion of fuel vehicles, hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles in Norway will change▼
Norway's influence on other countries
Robbie Andrew, from the CICERO International Climate Research Centre in Oslo, says that in fact other European markets are starting to follow the same curve.
Across Europe, registrations for hybrid and pure electric vehicles are starting to increase rapidly, with their share of total registrations across the continent increasing from 3.5% in 2019 to 11% in 2020 (from 550,000 to 1.325 million), according to the European Environment Agency.
Other countries in Europe have also begun to transition to electric vehicles, and after the implementation of preferential policies for electric vehicles, good results have been achieved. New markets are also getting better technology, as well as massive investments in electric vehicles.
Some countries are developing even faster in the early stages than Norway. Norway took 2.5 years to increase the market share of electric vehicles from 2% to 10%, while the United Kingdom took 1.5 years and Germany only took 1 year.
The key is the policy adopted for car consumers. It is important to tax the sales of the most polluting new cars, using the money to subsidize electric vehicles. It's a fair way to implement climate policy because it's aimed at people who buy new cars, not indiscriminate taxation.
Pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars▼ are included
Norway is a Nordic country with an area that extends above the Arctic Circle. There are very long roads in the territory, the mountain roads are quite rugged and the climate is very cold. Norway may not seem like a place to start a transport revolution, but electric cars are quickly becoming the new normal here.
High-intensity policy support
As we all know, Norway and some other Nordic countries have always been known for their high welfare. The growth of its electric vehicle market is also the result of a series of tax breaks that have changed the traditional perception that electric vehicles are too expensive or lack endurance.
When electric vehicles appeared on the market, the Norwegian government decided to reduce the price of electric vehicles, reducing or completely eliminating some of the costs of the use process, in order to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. For example, a new all-electric Nissan Leaf starts at NOK 219,900 (about 160,000 yuan), while a similarly sized fuel car, the Ford Focus, starts at NOK 395,100 (about 287,000 yuan). Electric vehicles have rightly become the only choice for consumers.
Robbie Andrew from the CICERO International Climate Research Centre in Oslo highlighted a dozen different taxes, subsidies and regulations:
Norway has a large public investment in the charging network; if the car's CO2 emissions are large, the one-time registration tax will increase with it; the exemption from VAT for pure electric vehicles, the reduction of annual ownership tax, the exemption of road tolls, the reduction of ferry charges, the opening of bus lanes and even half-price parking.
In terms of electric vehicle infrastructure, the Norwegian government has established fast charging stations every 50 kilometers on all major roads, including the world's first fast charging station. Norway's evictioning prospects also look very good.
In 2016, an electric car was charging at a charging station in Oslo, Norway
Open-minded
Many might think of Norwegians as environmental diehards eager to abandon petrol cars. But transport experts in the country say Norwegians were skeptical about electric vehicles at first.
"Even the admirers of electric vehicles are shocked by the speed of change." Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, said. In 2015, electric vehicles accounted for about 20% of new car sales, and now they have become the "new normal".
In addition to the government's strong push, throughout the process of transformation, with more and more electric vehicles running around on the road, most people have quickly accepted electric vehicles as their new means of transportation.
Bu said the biggest change in Norwegians is their mindset. Her father once said he would never buy an electric car, but now he also owns one.
The knock-on effect of policy push
In fact, the Norwegian government has a fiscal gap of $3.41 billion (about 21.6 billion yuan) in 2021 due to tax breaks.
Anders Hartmann of Asplan Viak, a Norwegian planning and engineering consultancy, said that when there are few electric cars on the road, it is still manageable to make electric cars free of parking or tolls. But recently some local governments have said they are losing money to fund public transport.
In 2021, Norway's legislature is already discussing a 25% surcharge on electric vehicles that cut back the tax breaks for electric vehicles that sell for more than NOK 600,000 (about 435,000 yuan).
For example, a Porsche Taycan that starts at NOK 777,000 (about 564,000 yuan) will pay taxes of NOK 44,250 (about 32,133 yuan).
If implemented, Norway will, for the first time, tax luxury automakers such as Porsche, Jaguar, Audi and Mercedes-Benz on electric vehicles, as well as Tesla's high-end models.
Because under Norway's existing incentives, the more expensive the car, the more sales and other taxes the state abandons, providing the largest implicit subsidy for high-income households while also raising the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
This fiscal gap will undoubtedly continue to have an impact until the Norwegian government introduces its latest tax policy. Transportation has transformed on its own, and it seems that it will take a little time for society to take on a perfect and balanced electrified new look.