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Why do they love electric cars in Norway?
- LoSboccacc 10y agoSo basically it's incentives, inventives and incentives on top of incentives. Wouldn't call that love but hey whatever it's still a good result, right?
- lqdc13 10y agoincentives + social pressure to make gas car owners feel guilty. One of the top reasons from the interview was "clean consciousness". This, I think, is partially because oil is the main industry in the country so they collectively feel more guilty than neighboring Sweden and Finland.
- usrusr 10y ago> "clean consciousness" Which just happens to work so much better when your electricity is not provided by coal plants...
- ZeroGravitas 10y agoAs you say, it's better if you don't rely on coal for electricity production, but it's important to note, because there's lots of propaganda doing its best to suggest otherwise, that it's still a good idea if you're using coal. Using coal is of course a ridiculous thing to do, and should be phased out immediately, but still, electric cars make sense even in that horrible scenario.
- emp_zealoth 10y agoSure, please wire us 100bn $ so we can phase it out!
- ZeroGravitas 10y agoJust take the money you would have to spend on people dying from the pollution, and the money saved from not having to do as much to reduce CO2 emissions and you're already ahead. As a bonus, there will be less environmental damage and pension payments for the taxpayer to make good when the coal corporations go bust 'accidentally' leaving all their debts unpaid.
- im3w1l 10y agoThose incentives didn't just happen. The Norwegians imposed them on themselves.
- gutnor 10y agoAny regulation is imposed by the people on itself in a democracy. When people complain about the internet provider in the US, they have imposed that to themselves too. Anyway, the point is that electric car in Norway is not competing on equal footing. It is cool, don't get me wrong, but worthless as an indicator of things to come in other countries.
- e12e 10y agoYes, a lot of incentives. But another important point is that they make some sense, due to the pervasiveness of renewable hydroelectric power in Norway. Being an oil producing country, we could have gone the other way, and just subsidized gasoline prices instead.
- rodionos 10y agoThis part of subsidies (free charging) has been getting less expensive for the budget too, at least in nominal terms. The price of hydro-power exported to neighboring Denmark has dropped by almost 50% since 2010, as Denmark ramped up its wind mills, albeit also with subsidies. https://apps.axibase.com/chartlab/ccca061b/2/ https://apps.axibase.com/chartlab/ccca061b/2/
- CAT0 10y agoIn 2012 someone made a great overview of EV history and incentives in Norway http://www.evnorway.no http://www.evnorway.no Too bad it's not beeing updated any more.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- beloch 10y agoI wonder how well EV's cope with arctic conditions. In areas near the ocean temperatures generally don't get too extreme (e.g. Anchorage), but inland they can easily get into ranges that must be challenging for batteries to cope with.
- loeg 10y agoUnfortunately, article doesn't really address that. Just some he-said she-said opinions.
- Infernal 10y agoAnecdotal, but I was speaking with a friend from Norway about 18 months ago, and he mentioned how you see Teslas everywhere because they are heavily subsidized and gas is ridiculously expensive. However, he said everyone also has a winter car, a Subaru or similar, because the electric range is so severely limited by the cold.
- e12e 10y agoNot mentioned in the article, but hybrid vehicles are also quite popular in Norway - as they blend some of the benefits of gasoline and pure electric cars. My tounge-in-cheek take on it is that people that shouldn't really need to own a car, because they're living in an urban area and should be able to use public transport, will buy a Tesla. People that live eg. a few hours outside of Tromsø, will generally buy a four wheel drive gasoline car. But some of these can be served well by hybrids too.
- loeg 10y ago> However, he said everyone also has a winter car, a Subaru or similar, because the electric range is so severely limited by the cold. Article seems to suggest otherwise — population of 5 million, but only 3 million cars on the road.
- Infernal 10y agoHmm, maybe "everyone" in his context was really "everyone who has a Tesla". It's been a minute since that conversation, but the gist was that Teslas are popular because of subsidies, but cold-weather battery tech isn't good enough for an EV to be your only car in Norway, supposing you need a car in the first place.
- shermozle 10y agoDemonstrating that tablet app for the Nissan Leaf perhaps isn't the best demonstration of great technology... https://www.troyhunt.com/controlling-vehicle-features-of-nissan/ https://www.troyhunt.com/controlling-vehicle-features-of-nis...
- sandworm101 10y agoOne very small part of the arctic circle. That title is appropriate once electric cars are popular in the northern regions of canada and russia, who are by far the largest occupiers of the arctic. Some data: It looks like the leaf's range is basically halved in cold weather. That, and the greater distances between everything in the true north, says to me that they are a long way from adoption. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1087587_what-does-it-take-to-drive-an-electric-car-in-canadian-winters http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1087587_what-does-it-tak... Fyi, running the heater on a gas-powered car does nothing to the range. That heat comes from engine coolant. You are doing the engine a favor, something to remember if your engine is overheating.
- dang 10y ago> One very small part of the arctic circle. Ok, we replaced "the article circle" with "Tromsø" in the title above. That should narrow it down a bit :)
- sandworm101 10y agocc. For map geeks, another slight error by the BBC was that the circle isn't an area but a line. Nobody lives on the circle. The normal phrase is 'above the arctic circle' or just 'in the arctic'. Canada has "the north" which is actually an official thing for tax purposes (extra deductions for the higher cost of living).
- cachvico 10y agoIt's still not accurate. The article states they love electric cars in Oslo (30% adoption), but in Tromsø adoption is more muted because of the range problem. "Norway" would be the most representative title.
- dang 10y agoOh, ok, but it's not nearly as fun. How often do we get to say Tromsø?
- e12e 10y ago
- 1024core 10y agoI was feeling all good for Norway, till I read this: > It helps that Norway is also the biggest oil producer in Western Europe and the world's third largest exporter of natural gas. Hmmm.... You know what would really help the environment, Norway? If you stopped drilling all that oil and gas. Your measly consumption of gas isn't the problem; your mega export of oil is.
- laurencerowe 10y agoIt's not that simple. Natural gas emits around half the CO2 of coal per GWh. It really depends on what it's substituted with.
- Broken_Hippo 10y agoImagine what would happen if they (we, I guess, since I live here). The world is pretty connected - that is more obvious here than when I lived in the states. And most of the world's shipping, transport, etc runs on that. Simply stopping the drilling would cause disruption and aggression. It could easily fuel more fracking, for example, or more places using unsavory means to get the oil (My understanding is that they try to be as environmentally friendly as possible while drilling). In addition, it would, at this point, cause local harm to the folks living here and elsewhere. The oil profits are redirected to the oil fund, which are invested in different sorts of companies and helps others out as well as Norwegians, who use the interest from the fund to pay for various things. To stop drilling, the gas consumption really needs to be attacked on a global scale. Renewable energies, electric cars, and such things everywhere - affordable to everyone. In addition, 14 other countries produce more oil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_produ... 5 others produce more natural gas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_gas_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_g... At least some sort of effort is being made. Which is more than I can say for the US, which tops both lists.
- nemo44x 10y agoBit harsh, no? They have every right to participate in the global market and it sounds like they're rather forward looking.
- dba7dba 10y agoLook up 'bjørn nyland tesla'. It's most watched vlog about Tesla S by someone who lives in Norway. He used to live in Oslo but also lived in the very far northern part of Norway. He offers very detailed reviews of Tesla. Beautiful winter scenery of Norway is a bonus.
- unixhero 10y agoIt's beautiful when you don't have to live it.
- reitanqild 10y agoI live here and it is still beautiful. From May to early September it almost isn't dark at night and depending on where in the country you live it sometimes seems like living in a postcard ;-) (FTR, Norway is long, if you turned it upside down it would stretch far into Italy they say, driving from my place to the artic circle would be about 17 hours non-stop and then you still have a full working day left to drive to the nortmost point or the Russian border.) I have lived for months as far as beyond the artic circle and have worked on the very northermost parts for shorter trips and I loved it all the way. (Although ski goggles and warm clothes are recommended to get anything done outside on a windy day in the winter.)
- kwhitefoot 10y ago> I live here and it is still beautiful Me too. Never been further north than Steinkjer though.
- Arnt 10y agoThe oil age is ending in Norway. It's considered a fact of life. You all have heard of the petroleum fund. That money is going towards pensions. Of course it's easier to buy an electric car if you're used to thinkinf of the oil age that something that ends within your own working life.
- danmaz74 10y ago> The oil age is ending in Norway. With "oil age" you mean the use of oil, or its production?
- Symbiote 10y agoProduction. The North Sea reached "peak oil" some time ago. Although there have been recent increases in production, the total output is much lower than it was around 2000. http://www.crystolenergy.com/assessing-future-north-sea-oil-gas/ http://www.crystolenergy.com/assessing-future-north-sea-oil-...
- sgt 10y agoThe oil age in Norway is far, far from over. In fact, I suspect Norway will still be producing oil into the year 2100 as long as there is a market for it world-wide. Cars aren't the only things on Earth that needs oil. In terms of future expansion, one has to consider the unexploited oil reserves that Norway still has hidden in its sleeves. Take Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja which hold about 1.3 billion barrels of oil. As a comparison, the UK's entire oil reserves is 21 billion barrels. For now, the government has decided not to start exploiting this area. However, a lot can happen in 10-20 years time. There may also be other undiscovered oil reserves along the coast line. Add to this, Norway claims 2.7 million sqm of Antarctica, about 20% of the entire continent. Let's hope the world never comes to the point where nations will argue over this continent because it would not end well. You can be sure there's a lot of oil hiding there, though. 203 billion barrels worth according to some wild speculations (I would not trust that number at all, but it is plausible that the number is high).
- Arnt 10y ago
- davnn 10y agoCombine incentives with enough purchasing power = profit.
- reitanqild 10y agoLive here. My brother-in-law just bought the Leaf. From the people I talk to it is always the same reasons: * price (leaf, vw etc) and/or * love Tesla: compared to any other new 400+ hp luxury car the Tesla is a steal for the moment both because of buying price (around 600' NOK for the entry level Model S is cheap compared to any other new sports car around here.) and/or * being allowed to drive in the bus lane On top of this you save fuel, toll roads, park for free in a lot of places, get free ferry tickets etc etc. My former neighbours who drive for 40 minutes to and from work said not buying the Leaf would be failing basic math. Edit: and lets not forget being allowed to drive in the bus lane.
- igravious 10y agoThe following incentives from the article seem key. - No purchase taxes - Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase - Low annual road tax - No charges on toll roads or ferries - Free municipal parking - Access to bus lanes - 50% reduction in company car tax - No VAT on leasing
- larschdk 10y agoI doubt that this model is sustainable. In Denmark, the tax exemption on electric vehicles is now being phased out because it got too popular and the resulting decrease in tax revenue would be to heavy.
- msh 10y agoEh no. It got phased out because we got a government who don't believe in subsidising things that are good for the environment. One of the support parties don't even believe that global warming is caused by human activity.
- fulafel 10y agoCars are not good for the environment. Lifetime co2 footprint of electric cars are in the same ballpark as efficient petrol cars.
- orik 10y agoI can answer this question; because of tax benefits.
- pm24601 10y agoNorway is applying "the polluter pays" principle. A gas car has a lot of pollution therefore a lot of paying. Electric cars - not so much pollution, not so much paying.
- pipio21 10y agoIf you travel to Norway, you see they have sea, mountains, and water, which means very cheap electric energy. Probably the only place in the world with similar cheap electric energy/person is Iceland. When I was in Iceland I could not stop thinking about the electric cars possibilities there. I have not lived in Iceland in winter though, which certainly will have more problems.
- tallanvor 10y agoUnfortunately Norwegian power companies realized they could export electricity to other countries in Europe, so electricity is not as cheap as you might expect.
- admin12345 10y agohttps://shareonline.in/category/vehicles/cars/ https://shareonline.in/category/vehicles/cars/