Norway: Electric car sales soar, setting new record

Norwegians bought the highest numbers of electric cars ever in 2022, data released on Monday show.

Four of out every fifth car registered last year was an electric car, according to data released by the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV).

In actual figures, 138,265 electric cars were sold last year, representing 79.3% of total passenger car sales. Norway beat its own record of 2021, when 65% of the cars sold were electric ones.

American automaker Tesla, with a 12.2% share of the electric vehicles market, topped the list of cars sold.

By comparison, electric vehicles made up only 8.6% of new car registrations in the EU during the first nine months of 2022, data shows.

Exemption from taxes boost sales in 2022

Norway has also led the way in switching over to electric cars by offering people several incentives.

Most importantly, people were exempt from paying taxes on their electric cars last year, but that changed this year.

From January 1, those who buy more expensive electric cars will have to pay VAT or value added tax on their cars.

While tax exemptions helped cut emissions, they cost the government around $4 billion (€3.7 billion) in revenue losses in 2022, the Finance Ministry said.

Those with electric cars also paid lower toll and public parking fees.

Norway, a country of 5.5 million people, aims at having all cars sold by 2025 to produce zero-emissions, namely electric or hydrogen-powered cars. 

The Scandanavian country, with a center-left coalition government in power, is also one of the largest producers and exporters of oil.