In Norway, the number of electric cars exceeds petrol cars

Norway is the first country in the world to achieve such a milestone.But there are those who criticize the incentives for individual transport.

• In Norway, there are more electric cars on the road than petrol cars:it is the first country in the world to reach this milestone.

There Norway, one of the world's largest oil exporters, has achieved a first-of-its-kind milestone:they circulate on its streets more electric cars than petrol-powered vehicles. According to the most recent data provided by the Norwegian Road Federation (il Norwegian road federation, a group of stakeholders that deals with road transport), of the 2.8 million private cars registered in the country, 754,303 are fully electric, exceeding the 753,905 petrol cars.

The Nordic country, which has 5.5 million inhabitants, aims to become the first nation to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025.An ever closer goal, reached without imposing a sales ban of combustion engine cars, but encouraged by a series of tax breaks and other benefits that have made electric cars (EV) increasingly attractive for consumers

Norway is the country of electric cars

Currently, nine out of ten cars sold in Norway are electric, according to industry data.And it is not difficult to understand why, considering the amount of incentives put in place by the authorities:electric vehicles are exempt not only from emissions taxes, but also from VAT on purchases and leasing.Additionally, the government incentivizes demand for electric vehicles through toll exemptions or reductions of 50 percent, lower rates for parking (in some cases parking is completely free) and access to preferential bus lanes:all elements designed to increase consumer interest in electric vehicles compared to electric vehicles fossil fuels.

And then there is it charging network:while in many countries electric vehicle owners complain about the scarcity of charging points, in Norway it exists a vast network of free stations in all cities, with as many as 2,000 in Oslo alone.

Despite the efforts, however, diesel cars currently remain the most numerous, with almost a million models still in circulation, even if their sales are declining rapidly, according to the Norwegian Road Federation.The goal is to reach 100 by 2025

Will electric mobility be the next revolution in public transport?

This situation is not without paradoxes:many point out that all these incentives for electric cars are made possible thanks to Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which amounts to over 1,700 billion dollars and was built thanks to the revenues deriving from its oil fields.This fund acts as a “pension fund” for the country when oil resources are exhausted and it is precisely this economic security that has allowed the government to offer green incentives to motorists.

But these incentives have also attracted other criticisms, including those relating to the fact that the state encourages individual transport to the detriment of local public transport.A not unfounded fear:several municipalities are conducting studies to rebalance the situation.For example, in 2023, residents of Stavanger, a city in southwestern Norway, benefited from free tickets for traveling by bus.According to researchers, making transport free can increase its use by 11 percent.The price is significant but there are also other reasons that push residents to use public transport.And among these is the capillarity of the service.A measure on which not only Norway, but the whole of Europe, must work more incisively.