Norway, a Northern European country with a population of 5.5 million, is reportedly moving to follow suit by banning the sale of new petrol and diesel car models as early as 2025, becoming the first country in the world to complete the full transition from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles to fully electric vehicles.
While sales of electric vehicles have easily surpassed those of petrol and diesel-powered models in recent years in Norway, data from the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council shows that of the nation’s current car parc of 2,885,014 vehicles, about 776,003 are gasoline-powered, 1,068,929 diesel-powered, 339,724 hybrids and 700,358 fully electric.
Senior researcher Robbie Andrew of climate research foundation CICERO told Reuters that electric car sales look set to overtake those of gasoline-powered vehicles in Norway soon.
“If that trend continues over the next 12 months with gasoline car sales remaining at their modest trend, then sometime in early 2025 there will be more electric passenger cars on the road in Norway than gasoline-powered ones, maybe even sooner than that — towards the end of this year,” Andrew said.
Electric cars are charged at a Tesla Supercharger station in Gulsvik, Norway. Photo: Reuters
However, Andrew said it will take a few more years for electric cars to overtake diesel-powered vehicles on Norwegian roads, with EVs likely to surpass the combined total of gasoline and diesel cars in Norway early in 2029.
Electric car sales accounted for 92.1% of all new vehicles sold in Norway in January 2024. That eased back a bit to near 90% in March, partly due to rising interest rates and the winding back of tax breaks.
Trang Nguyễn (forum.autodaily.vn)