EVs Accounted For 42% Of New Car Sales In Norway Last Year

The share of electric vehicles in Norway has jumped higher than ever before thanks in part to the increased popularity of Tesla models.

A total of 142,381 new vehicles were sold in Norway last year. According to the Norwegian Road Federation, battery electric cars accounted for 42 per cent, up from 31 per cent in 2018. Over the same time period, Tesla sold a record 18,798 cars thanks largely to massive demand in the first half of the year, with 15,683 of them being Tesla Model 3s.

Bloomberg reports that Norway is the world’s largest adopter of electric cars per inhabitant thanks to a host of generous incentives including tax exemptions. Tesla fell short of being the nation’s best-selling brand in 2019, though, selling just 150 vehicles fewer than Volkswagen.

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Speaking in a webcast presentation, the head of the local Road Federation, Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, said the share of electric vehicles could reach roughly 50 per cent in 2020.

While there are only a touch over 5 million people living in Norway, it was Tesla’s third-biggest market by sales in the first nine months of 2019. Moreover, the Model 3 took the top position as the country’s best-selling electric vehicle from the Nissan Leaf.

Norway has an ambitious target of zero-emission vehicles making up all new car sales by the year 2025.