Fabio Manganiello on Nostr: How #Norway succeeded in transitioning to electric vehicles while the rest of Europe ...
How #Norway succeeded in transitioning to electric vehicles while the rest of Europe (and the US) are struggling:
Norway has big oil reserves (the largest in Europe after Russia), but unlike other petrostates it never lobbied the international community to keep relying on fossil fuels in order to subsidize its economy. Nor (unlike e.g. the UAE, Russia and Saudi Arabia) it allowed oil and gas production to make up a large share of their GDP. Instead, they have reinvested the profits from oil and gas extraction into a common fund, and prepared for an oil-free future.
Because of large share of wealth it redistributed to its citizens, Norway ended up with a quite wealthy population. It’s easier to give up your gasoline polluter and buy an EV when doing so doesn’t require you to give up a large share of your savings.
Unlike the US, Germany, Italy and France, it never had a large car manufacturing industry that lobbied against the transition. It’s easier to gain public support when you don’t have the likes of Fiat, Ford or Volkswagen asking to slow down the transition as much as possible, and when transitioning away from the internal combustion engine doesn’t result in the loss of thousands of jobs.
Stick and carrot system: Norway levies no VAT or import duties on EVs, regardless of their country of production They are also exempt from toll road charges and parking fees, and they can use bus lanes in Oslo. It’s only now that they have almost reached their 2025 goal (i.e. no more gasoline cars by the end of this year) that they’re planning to cut back on some of these incentives. Countries like Germany failed in their EV adoption because they cut back the subsidies too early. On the other end, it gradually increased taxation on gasoline vehicles, banned them from larger and larger city areas, and set an ambitious goal of phasing them out of production altogether already by the end of this year.
EVs don’t exist in isolation. They need charging stations. And it’s better when those charging stations are also powered by renewables. With hydropower accounting for >90% of Norway’s energy demand, it’s been relatively easy and cheap to install a sustainable network of charging stations. When a country invests as much as Norway in renewables, the benefits go all the way down the chain.
Also, because of the cheap energy costs most of Norwegians charge their cars at home. Other countries where energy isn’t as cheap should instead consider (like the Netherlands) installing a capillar network of public charging stations. One each 100 meters on city roads and one each km on highways may be a good rule of thumb.
Norway (and even more the Netherlands) have heavily invested in car sharing programs in urban areas. Bilkollektivet, Hyre, GetAround and more car sharing services operate in Oslo alone. If there’s always an EV in the radius of 250 meters, and the public transport is good, many in urban areas may willingly give up on car ownership altogether. Especially when charging costs are paid by the operator rather than the customers.
https://www.dw.com/en/how-norway-became-the-trailblazer-for-electric-vehicles/a-71208744?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
Norway has big oil reserves (the largest in Europe after Russia), but unlike other petrostates it never lobbied the international community to keep relying on fossil fuels in order to subsidize its economy. Nor (unlike e.g. the UAE, Russia and Saudi Arabia) it allowed oil and gas production to make up a large share of their GDP. Instead, they have reinvested the profits from oil and gas extraction into a common fund, and prepared for an oil-free future.
Because of large share of wealth it redistributed to its citizens, Norway ended up with a quite wealthy population. It’s easier to give up your gasoline polluter and buy an EV when doing so doesn’t require you to give up a large share of your savings.
Unlike the US, Germany, Italy and France, it never had a large car manufacturing industry that lobbied against the transition. It’s easier to gain public support when you don’t have the likes of Fiat, Ford or Volkswagen asking to slow down the transition as much as possible, and when transitioning away from the internal combustion engine doesn’t result in the loss of thousands of jobs.
Stick and carrot system: Norway levies no VAT or import duties on EVs, regardless of their country of production They are also exempt from toll road charges and parking fees, and they can use bus lanes in Oslo. It’s only now that they have almost reached their 2025 goal (i.e. no more gasoline cars by the end of this year) that they’re planning to cut back on some of these incentives. Countries like Germany failed in their EV adoption because they cut back the subsidies too early. On the other end, it gradually increased taxation on gasoline vehicles, banned them from larger and larger city areas, and set an ambitious goal of phasing them out of production altogether already by the end of this year.
EVs don’t exist in isolation. They need charging stations. And it’s better when those charging stations are also powered by renewables. With hydropower accounting for >90% of Norway’s energy demand, it’s been relatively easy and cheap to install a sustainable network of charging stations. When a country invests as much as Norway in renewables, the benefits go all the way down the chain.
Also, because of the cheap energy costs most of Norwegians charge their cars at home. Other countries where energy isn’t as cheap should instead consider (like the Netherlands) installing a capillar network of public charging stations. One each 100 meters on city roads and one each km on highways may be a good rule of thumb.
Norway (and even more the Netherlands) have heavily invested in car sharing programs in urban areas. Bilkollektivet, Hyre, GetAround and more car sharing services operate in Oslo alone. If there’s always an EV in the radius of 250 meters, and the public transport is good, many in urban areas may willingly give up on car ownership altogether. Especially when charging costs are paid by the operator rather than the customers.
https://www.dw.com/en/how-norway-became-the-trailblazer-for-electric-vehicles/a-71208744?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf