Norway set to become first country to transition to electric vehicles(cnbc.com)

Norway set to become first country to transition to electric vehicles

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/28/norway-set-to-be-the-first-to-fully-transition-to-electric-vehicles.html

4 comments

I have Norwegian friends, I visit Norway often. Much information in the article is not true. People living there had no choice, instead they were economically forced to buy electric cars. Combustion engine cars were just artificially made more expensive by high taxes and extra fares. There is electric regime there ruling the country (actually not only electric but this is not the point here). I can give the example of how this electric madness influences tourists as I experienced it myself: you drive to Oslo on your way back to Europe and want to see Vigeland park. On your way you pass some automatic payment gates (they are not only around capital but also they are placed in random locations). You find a dedicated parking place nearby which has most of the places for electric cars only and few places left are mostly occupied by some steel constructions temporarily left by workers. So most of a place is empty but you have no place to park your car. In general in Oslo there are very old parking houses which are extremly expensive and parking along the street is very often allowed for 1-2 hours only. There are parking machines but not when the parking place has no time limit: you need application there to be able to pay but the application may not work in your phone for unknown reason. I am pretty sure proudly electric Norway will soon forget about the fact that most of the tourists do not use electric cars and after entering Norway they will become drastically incompatible with the regime regulations (leave the car in the field and go to the city with the bus, pay huge amount of money per 1 hour of driving near/in the city or maybe pay huge amount of money at the border?). They will surely not forget about penalty for their own citizens for daring to move around with the car (why should they give up payments even when all cars are electric?).

We need to have a choice. If we don't, it is a regime.

Battleshackanno scorso

Not to be snarky, but tourists with cars are widely frowned upon by Norwegians. They tend to bring their own food and they pass automatic toll booths which Norwegian cities have no practical way of collecting. And this view is as see it fully biparisan. A tourists tax is supported by all major parties and will be implemented at some point. Also supported by The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises. Your point is mostly valid though. Norway has been heavily incentivised to shift to electric. Though the incentives has been good. Gass, toll and taxes was always expensive i Norway.

11101010001100anno scorso

Choice is still there, just very expensive and very inconvenient.

VincentEvansanno scorso

Imposing such choices fuels political polarization, with increasingly evident consequences.

You can watch as it happens all around the world, but I am sure it won’t happen in Norway. /sarcasm

hayertjezanno scorso

Also Norway did find out simply replacing 1-1 and making the transition has not only good benefits[1]. Because they made it so cheap people took less public transit, walked or cycled less. Also they didn’t regulate the weight of the car, so more traffic deaths ( as is the case in most countries). The most sustainable mode of transport is biking, walking, public transport.

[1] - https://www.electrive.com/2022/05/04/norway-reconsiders-elec... *not the article i had in mind but tells roughly the same

[2] - https://electrek.co/2022/05/17/norway-rolls-back-ev-incentiv...

robertlagrantanno scorso

> Despite its vast oil and gas reserves, the Nordic country has long been recognized as a global leader in sustainable transportation.

I think this is probably a lot more causal than a "despite" would deserve. Having a vast amount of money[0] to just drill out of the ground, well invested, means there's money to pay for premium goods such as electric cars.

[0] https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/are-all-norwegians-we...

ZeroGravitasanno scorso

Or maybe this is yet another good investmemt?

Given the low price, low pollution and low carbon content of Norwegian electricity EVs are an even better choice than usual and likely to hit national TCO savings already.

robertlagrantanno scorso

> Or maybe this is yet another good investmemt?

I don't understand the "or". Yes, if you have plenty of money you can make up-front investments that lower TCO[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory

ZeroGravitasanno scorso

If you have lots of money you can also squander it on pointless and unnecessary things for no reason.

That's not an investment though. I believe electrification of transport is. Your term "premium goods" sounds a bit more frivolous.

robertlagrantanno scorso

It just means stuff wealthy people can afford. There's no implication of worthiness; that might just be the lens by which you view things.

The point is simple: the country can afford electric cars because of its oil and gas, not despite it.

ricardobeatanno scorso

That’s a Nio EL6, small SUV, in the picture, not the ET5 which is their smallest sedan.