Norway is the first country in the world to have an electric car quota of over 50 percent. The so-called Information Council for Road Traffic in Oslo published the registration numbers for the past year on Tuesday: According to this, 54.3 percent of all newly registered cars had an electric or hybrid drive. In 2019 this share had reached 42.4 percent. Across the EU, the rate is around 4 percent, in Austria only a little higher.
The four best-selling models were the Audi e-tron, the Model 3 from Tesla, the Volkswagen ID.3 and the Nissan Leaf – all with exclusively electric drive. The Volkswagen Golf in the hybrid version follows in fifth place.
Many advantages
Norway is considered a pioneering country in electromobility. Politicians are primarily responsible for the boom: E-cars are almost completely tax exempt in Norway, so they can keep up with diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles in terms of costs.
The electricity required for the e-cars is generated almost exclusively with hydropower in the country. The aim is for only electric cars to be sold from 2025.
Since July 1st, people in Austria have received increased subsidies when buying an electric vehicle until the end of the year. The subsidy for e-cars rose from 3000 to 5000 euros, for e-motorcycles there will be 1200 instead of 1000 euros and for electric mopeds 800 instead of 700 euros. Cargo bikes are funded with 850 euros.
