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Norway was the first country where more than half of all new registered vehicles were electric in 2020. And if you look at the data, Norwegians pick EVs that lo

Norway was the first country where more than half of all new registered vehicles were electric in 2020. And if you look at the data, Norwegians pick EVs that look and drive like normal cars. https://www.statista.com/statistics/696530/ranking-of-electric-car-models-in-norway-by-number-of-registrations/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/696530/ranking-of-electr... It's not like you can't buy the weird ones too. It's just that people don't seem to want to buy them. Maybe culture plays some role there, but I believe that there are actual valid reasons why cars are in the form factor that they're in. And being electric doesn't change much in that equation. I mean, if there really is a hidden niche of small, slow, weird-looking four-wheelers, there's no reason why ICE-driven vehicles couldn't have filled that niche before.

Yaggo 6y ago
There are probably multiple factors: - Norway is a rich country with high standard of living, people are used to drive "big" cars – Northern climate and terrain with lot of mountains probably plays a role, capable AWDs are popular - Low population density, plenty of space for cars, excluding small city centers - Electric is cheap in Norway due to hydro – Electric cars are "cheap" in Norway due to low tax & high GDP
- gspr 6y ago
  > plenty of space for cars, excluding small city centers EVs are, in fact, more popular in the cities. And Norwegian cities are not very welcoming to cars.
- bluGill 6y ago
  I would say the difference is mostly rich. I suspect the poor people in China would prefer the large car too, but that isn't a practice option. The article makes it clear that the customers include a lot of people who can't get a drivers license, and given that China isn't exactly a rich country (they are improving and have a lot of rich, but overall they have a lot of poor people)
- fomine3 6y ago
  I've heard that Norway/Finland already had block heater pole for car that's basically similar to charging station, is it true? http://www.ieahev.org/by-country/finland-charging-infrastructure/ http://www.ieahev.org/by-country/finland-charging-infrastruc...
  - Yaggo 6y ago
    True, although often the older poles are wired only for 8 amps or so, needing re-wiring for safe EV charging. But the culture of "plugging in" the car already exists.
    - Yaggo 6y ago
      I live in Finland and drive a Tesla. I often hear people saying that EVs are "city cars" and not suitable elsewhere because of cold winter and long distances. Actually the opposite is true. - In countryside people drive more by average -> more savings - Practically every house has at least 3*25A power lines (230V) -> 11 kW charging from "red socket" - EVs are just fine in winter because of quick remote pre-heating, no need to idle the engine etc Btw, I just made a long trip in -20°C / -4°F. Of course the range is significantly shorter than in summer because heating needs energy, but there are no fundamental problems with the batteries itself.
virgo_eye 6y ago
It is true that the design of ICE vehicles is not arbitrary, but depends on weight/power/size/speed tradeoffs. However, there's no reason that these tradeoffs should be the same for EVs. Drivers in city traffic can't go fast, but they like to accelerate quickly. This means a big engine, which means a big car, which means more weight so the engine has to be even bigger to keep the car accelerating 0-30 quickly. For EVs, the relationship between battery weight and acceleration isn't the same. A new tradeoff is now between batteries which store power for a lot of driving, versus batteries which release a lot of power quickly, to accelerate sharply. There's no reason there shouldn't be a new sweet spot of very light weird-looking cars which are only driven around cities, need to be charged a lot (but who cares if not making long journeys) but have good 'driving performance'.
- jgilias 6y ago
  I for one believe that the weight/power/size/speed tradeoffs have a lot more to do with: - the need to have place for kids with safety seats in the back - the need to have place for a stroller/a snowboard/a few suitcases/something else in the trunk - the need to use the car to travel at highway speeds and dynamics at least occasionally. I don't see any of this being changed by having an EV. Even as a second car. Especially the last point.
  - WorldMaker 6y ago
    Some of that last point will be based on how you define "occasionally". If it's a once a year trip down a highway (for a vacation, for instance), you can make the intentional trade-off in your planning to use a short term rental or other mode of travel (plane, train) for that once a year trip to save the cost/wear/tear on your "primary" vehicle [1]. Sure, a lot of American cities in particular are not built very conveniently and often have lots of "necessary" trips on/across "highways" or roads that run at highway speeds that probably shouldn't if you were to intelligently (re)plan those neighborhoods. But that's a somewhat unique worst case to American (lack of) imagination and decades of profit-motivated dismantling of public transit options. [1] Most accountants and engineers will even suggest that you should already be doing that even with ICE vehicle primaries that are capable of such trips, the associated costs of wear/tear add up on a primary vehicle and it often is far more cost effective for short-term rentals.

Yaggo 6y ago

There are probably multiple factors: - Norway is a rich country with high standard of living, people are used to drive "big" cars – Northern climate and terrain with lot of mountains probably plays a role, capable AWDs are popular - Low population density, plenty of space for cars, excluding small city centers - Electric is cheap in Norway due to hydro – Electric cars are "cheap" in Norway due to low tax & high GDP

gspr 6y ago
> plenty of space for cars, excluding small city centers EVs are, in fact, more popular in the cities. And Norwegian cities are not very welcoming to cars.
bluGill 6y ago
I would say the difference is mostly rich. I suspect the poor people in China would prefer the large car too, but that isn't a practice option. The article makes it clear that the customers include a lot of people who can't get a drivers license, and given that China isn't exactly a rich country (they are improving and have a lot of rich, but overall they have a lot of poor people)
fomine3 6y ago
I've heard that Norway/Finland already had block heater pole for car that's basically similar to charging station, is it true? http://www.ieahev.org/by-country/finland-charging-infrastructure/ http://www.ieahev.org/by-country/finland-charging-infrastruc...
- Yaggo 6y ago
  True, although often the older poles are wired only for 8 amps or so, needing re-wiring for safe EV charging. But the culture of "plugging in" the car already exists.
  - Yaggo 6y ago
    I live in Finland and drive a Tesla. I often hear people saying that EVs are "city cars" and not suitable elsewhere because of cold winter and long distances. Actually the opposite is true. - In countryside people drive more by average -> more savings - Practically every house has at least 3*25A power lines (230V) -> 11 kW charging from "red socket" - EVs are just fine in winter because of quick remote pre-heating, no need to idle the engine etc Btw, I just made a long trip in -20°C / -4°F. Of course the range is significantly shorter than in summer because heating needs energy, but there are no fundamental problems with the batteries itself.

virgo_eye 6y ago

It is true that the design of ICE vehicles is not arbitrary, but depends on weight/power/size/speed tradeoffs. However, there's no reason that these tradeoffs should be the same for EVs. Drivers in city traffic can't go fast, but they like to accelerate quickly. This means a big engine, which means a big car, which means more weight so the engine has to be even bigger to keep the car accelerating 0-30 quickly. For EVs, the relationship between battery weight and acceleration isn't the same. A new tradeoff is now between batteries which store power for a lot of driving, versus batteries which release a lot of power quickly, to accelerate sharply. There's no reason there shouldn't be a new sweet spot of very light weird-looking cars which are only driven around cities, need to be charged a lot (but who cares if not making long journeys) but have good 'driving performance'.

jgilias 6y ago
I for one believe that the weight/power/size/speed tradeoffs have a lot more to do with: - the need to have place for kids with safety seats in the back - the need to have place for a stroller/a snowboard/a few suitcases/something else in the trunk - the need to use the car to travel at highway speeds and dynamics at least occasionally. I don't see any of this being changed by having an EV. Even as a second car. Especially the last point.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  Some of that last point will be based on how you define "occasionally". If it's a once a year trip down a highway (for a vacation, for instance), you can make the intentional trade-off in your planning to use a short term rental or other mode of travel (plane, train) for that once a year trip to save the cost/wear/tear on your "primary" vehicle [1]. Sure, a lot of American cities in particular are not built very conveniently and often have lots of "necessary" trips on/across "highways" or roads that run at highway speeds that probably shouldn't if you were to intelligently (re)plan those neighborhoods. But that's a somewhat unique worst case to American (lack of) imagination and decades of profit-motivated dismantling of public transit options. [1] Most accountants and engineers will even suggest that you should already be doing that even with ICE vehicle primaries that are capable of such trips, the associated costs of wear/tear add up on a primary vehicle and it often is far more cost effective for short-term rentals.