Norway really seems to have taken a liking to the all-electric Nissan Leaf, and reports now show that since the car went on sale in the country, in October of 2011, more than 3,300 have been sold. In 2012, it alone accounted for 1.7 percent of the entire Norwegian car sales figure for the year, with 2,298 units shifted.
Going even further, it was Nissan’s second-best selling model, after the Qashqai crossover, which beat it by a difference of 599 vehicles, and 13th bestselling car overall in the market.
This amazing popularity is down to many things, but primarily the fact that Norwegians seem to be very open-minded and environmentally aware, as well as having the necessary financial power to experiment with owning an electric cars. The use of bus lanes in town, no taxing, free standard charging everywhere you go (around 3,500 regular chargers) and 65 DC fast chargers scattered around the country all form part of the attraction.
Also, Norway is getting even more fast charging units, as it is part of a program that also includes Sweden, Denmark and Finland, and which aims to add an additional 200 of them throughout the four countries. A further 10 chargers have been promised by Nissan, as part of the 400 planned to be handed out to various European countries.
Norway is credited as being the first country in the world where a driving exam was passed in an electric car, which happened to be a Leaf. The driver had apparently never driven an internal combustion-powered car in her life.
By Andrei Nedelea
PHOTO GALLERY
