Norway likely to miss target of 100% EV car sales - but it's over 90%

Norway pledged to be the world's first country to stop selling combustion cars by 2025. According to Oslo city officials, this target won't be met - but the EV market share has passed the 90 percent mark and is getting ever closer to a hundred.

"We're talking so far this year 3 percent diesel and 4 percent gasoline," Oslo's electro mobility manager Sture Portvik told CGTN.

Stretching all the way to the Arctic, Norway's roads span thousands of kilometers through rough terrain. This geographical disadvantage is one of the reasons why the country is not likely to meet the self-imposed target of 100 percent EV car sales by the end of this year.

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"The last 10 percent that are not buying an EV at the moment are most likely buying a plug-in hybrid," Portvik says. "Because they have further distances to go, maybe a cabin up in the mountains."

The idea was to not make it mandatory, Portvik adds, but to use economic incentives making sure that if you're buying a polluting product you have to pay a lot.

According to Reuters and analysts, the number of battery electric vehicles on Norway's roads is on track to overtake petrol cars by the end of this year or in early 2025, in a first for any country.

Norway is electrifying all means of transportation, including taxis, lorries, buses and ferries, as it bids to maintain its position as the world's leader in electric mobility users per capita and reach its ambitious emission goals - putting it ahead of other big hitters such as Sweden, the Netherlands and China.

By November, all taxis in Oslo are set to be EV-only. And by early next year, all deliveries to Oslo have to be done by zero emission vehicles. 

"Everything from stationery, to paper and all the stuff we order, including cleaning services, everything has to be delivered by zero emission cars," Portvik says.

Major EV brands from China have been promoting their newest models in Norway. In 2023, manufacturers from China made up almost 15 percent of newly-sold cars in Norway.

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