From our Swindon Correspondent:
From The Guardian
“Once you are well over 200 miles per range, and you’ve got a really good charging infrastructure, it becomes a no-brainer. We’ve seen that in Norway,” said David Bailey, a professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham.
Norway is selling something like 50% electric cars. Far more than anyone else. Here’s a question: why only Norway? Here’s something I noticed:-
There aren’t many good roads across Norway. There’s 4 reasonably large population areas, a long distance from each other (4+ hours) and sod all between them. The distances are so large that you’re into long-distance trains or flights.
My guess is that most people in Oslo potter around the Oslo area. If it’s empty and barren beyond 50 miles (and most of the places seem to be barely more than large villages beyond that) an electric car is going to be fine. You’re never going to have range anxiety. When they have to go to Bergen (if at all), they don’t drive.
This may also explain things. The Norwegian EV incentives: No purchase/import taxes (1990-) Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase (2001-) No annual road tax (1996-) No charges on toll roads or ferries (1997- 2017). Maximum 50% of the total amount on ferry fares for electric vehicles (2018-) Maximum 50% of the total amount on toll roads (2019) Free municipal parking (1999- 2017) Parking fee for EVs was introduced locally with an upper limit of a maximum 50% of the full price (2018-) Access to bus lanes (2005-). New rules allow local authorities to limit the access to only include EVs… Read more »
True. Also, most of Scandiland imposes huge taxes on car purchases (which is why there are so many 20yo Volvos driving around). If you can avoid these tariffs by buying electric, that’s an attractive proposition.
Over 93% of Norway’s electricity is generated by hydro, that makes Norway able to power electric cars in a “green” manner, whereas in other countries electric cars are powered by burning coal, China and the USA being the more obvious examples. However, the reason the Norwegian government is able to afford to subsidise and incentivise the purchase and use of electric cars is that Norway exports huge amounts of oil and natural gas. Electric car use in Norway, even with hydro, relies on a massive output of CO2.
I suppose most of us do most of our driving around town, but yes, I can see the argument that subsidies combined with considerable inconvenience to taking a long drive might help propel electric car sales.
If the list of ‘subsidies’ above is correct, it is a wonder that the EV take up is so low. Why would one purchase other than an EV with the tilted play8ing field?
Perhaps some Norskies do take long drives, or perhaps have a truck that they load up and thereby lose a lot of range.
Right. Plus:
• 97% of Norway’s electricity comes from hydropower; its electricity prices are 40%-70% of European levels
• In Norway, EVs are exempt from VAT taxes and receive a 50% discount on toll roads and parking fees while ICE cars are subject to a 25% VAT, a CO2 tax, an NOx tax and a weight tax. As a result, Norwegian ICE cars are more expensive to buy and 75% more expensive to operate
From: https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm-am-aem/global/en/insights/eye-on-the-market/future-shock-amv.pdf
Good point.
The purchase taxes on conventionally powered cars in Norway is eye-watering. For reference, a few years ago I bought a BMW M140i new in the UK, and it cost around £32k optioned up. A Norwegian colleague noted that a similarly specced car in Norway would be over £70k equivalent because of the purchase/registration taxes. Offering electric cars free of these taxes is not the small discount it might be in just about every other country in the world.
So, essentially 100% cheap and reliable hydro power, a small population concentrated in a relatively few areas and most journeys within a feasible milk float range. It still requires this fantastic level of subsidy (i.e, piling massive costs on real cars) to even get to 50% milk float.
So that’s what a revolution looks like!
And I doubt if they do much long range driving at all in the winter.