Norway has become a major consumer of electrified vehicles in its effort to reduce CO2 emissions produced by cars that use internal combustion engines.
Last month, 46.9 percent of all new car registrations were EVs, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, according to HybridCars. Specifically, all-electric vehicles accounted for 19.0 percent, up from September, 2015’s 17.1 percent, hybrids included 14.9 percent, up from 12.6 percent, while plug-in hybrids rose from 4.2 percent to 13.0 percent.
These figures have transformed Norway into Europe’s largest plug-in hybrid market, and the fourth largest globally, with more than 121,000 cumulative plug-ins since 2004. On the other end, sales of diesel cars dropped from 39.2 percent in September 2015, to 26.4 percent last month, while petrol-powered cars’ deliveries declined from 31.0 percent to 25.8 percent.
The electrified vehicle of choice last month was the Tesla Model X, delivered to 601 customers. The zero-emission SUV has been joined by other popular ‘green’ cars such as the Volkswagen e-Golf and Golf GTE plug-in hybrid, which accounted for 392 and 358 units sold, respectively. 581 customers went for the BMW i3 and Nissan departed with 199 Leafs.