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Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

bbc.co.uk

41–50 of 80 posts

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#41
post #40

If you travel to Norway, you see they have sea, mountains, and water, which means very cheap electric energy. Probably the only place in the world with similar cheap electric energy/person is Iceland. When I was in Iceland I could not stop thinking about the electric cars possibilities there. I have not lived in Iceland in winter though, which certainly will have more problems.

Unfortunately Norwegian power companies realized they could export electricity to other countries in Europe, so electricity is not as cheap as you might expect.

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#42
post #20

So basically it's incentives, inventives and incentives on top of incentives. Wouldn't call that love but hey whatever it's still a good result, right?

Yes, a lot of incentives. But another important point is that they make some sense, due to the pervasiveness of renewable hydroelectric power in Norway. Being an oil producing country, we could have gone the other way, and just subsidized gasoline prices instead.

This part of subsidies (free charging) has been getting less expensive for the budget too, at least in nominal terms. The price of hydro-power exported to neighboring Denmark has dropped by almost 50% since 2010, as Denmark ramped up its wind mills, albeit also with subsidies.

https://apps.axibase.com/chartlab/ccca061b/2/

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#43

Live here. My brother-in-law just bought the Leaf. From the people I talk to it is always the same reasons: * price (leaf, vw etc) and/or * love Tesla: compared to any other new 400+ hp luxury car the Tesla is a steal for the moment both because of buying price (around 600' NOK for the entry level Model S is cheap compared to any other new sports car around here.) and/or * being allowed to drive in the bus lane On to…

The following incentives from the article seem key.

    - No purchase taxes

    - Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase

    - Low annual road tax

    - No charges on toll roads or ferries

    - Free municipal parking

    - Access to bus lanes

    - 50% reduction in company car tax

    - No VAT on leasing

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#44

Live here. My brother-in-law just bought the Leaf. From the people I talk to it is always the same reasons: * price (leaf, vw etc) and/or * love Tesla: compared to any other new 400+ hp luxury car the Tesla is a steal for the moment both because of buying price (around 600' NOK for the entry level Model S is cheap compared to any other new sports car around here.) and/or * being allowed to drive in the bus lane On to…

The following incentives from the article seem key. - No purchase taxes - Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase - Low annual road tax - No charges on toll roads or ferries - Free municipal parking - Access to bus lanes - 50% reduction in company car tax - No VAT on leasing

I doubt that this model is sustainable. In Denmark, the tax exemption on electric vehicles is now being phased out because it got too popular and the resulting decrease in tax revenue would be to heavy.

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The following incentives from the article seem key. - No purchase taxes - Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase - Low annual road tax - No charges on toll roads or ferries - Free municipal parking - Access to bus lanes - 50% reduction in company car tax - No VAT on leasing

I doubt that this model is sustainable. In Denmark, the tax exemption on electric vehicles is now being phased out because it got too popular and the resulting decrease in tax revenue would be to heavy.

Eh no. It got phased out because we got a government who don't believe in subsidising things that are good for the environment.

One of the support parties don't even believe that global warming is caused by human activity.

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#46

Live here. My brother-in-law just bought the Leaf. From the people I talk to it is always the same reasons: * price (leaf, vw etc) and/or * love Tesla: compared to any other new 400+ hp luxury car the Tesla is a steal for the moment both because of buying price (around 600' NOK for the entry level Model S is cheap compared to any other new sports car around here.) and/or * being allowed to drive in the bus lane On to…

The following incentives from the article seem key. - No purchase taxes - Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase - Low annual road tax - No charges on toll roads or ferries - Free municipal parking - Access to bus lanes - 50% reduction in company car tax - No VAT on leasing

Yet another story on how exemplary Norway is. Yet the reason Norway is able to provide these incentives is because they made a fortune selling oil. I'm conflicted on these Norway stories because while I applaud all of these efforts, the reality is that they are largely possible only because of oil money.

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#47
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electrical cars will never be popular in Russia, at least in the most parts. You have to drive at -40 temperature; you have to drive 500-1000km in one day; and not only drive, but keep warm temperature inside for passengers (not every day, but your car must be able to do that sometimes). You don't have enough money to buy many cars for different tasks, gasoline is extremely cheap (compared to Europe) and not much peo…

There are prototypes of electric cars that use aluminum batteries [1] with energy density similar to that of gasoline. As technology improves, that can be a viable option for extreme cold conditions. [1] https://www.algemeiner.com/2014/06/17/israels-phinergy-tests...

> can be a viable option

To win the northern market, without massive subsidies, electric cars need to be better than viable. They need to be better than gas car. In cold weather, that will require an order of magnitude increase in energy density. That's a couple decades off imho.

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#48
post #5

So basically it's incentives, inventives and incentives on top of incentives. Wouldn't call that love but hey whatever it's still a good result, right?

incentives + social pressure to make gas car owners feel guilty. One of the top reasons from the interview was "clean consciousness". This, I think, is partially because oil is the main industry in the country so they collectively feel more guilty than neighboring Sweden and Finland.

> "clean consciousness"

Which just happens to work so much better when your electricity is not provided by coal plants...

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The following incentives from the article seem key. - No purchase taxes - Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase - Low annual road tax - No charges on toll roads or ferries - Free municipal parking - Access to bus lanes - 50% reduction in company car tax - No VAT on leasing

I doubt that this model is sustainable. In Denmark, the tax exemption on electric vehicles is now being phased out because it got too popular and the resulting decrease in tax revenue would be to heavy.

It isn't intended to be sustainable, it's explicitly stated that these perks will go away in a couple of years.

Re: Why do they love electric cars in Norway?

#50

One very small part of the arctic circle. That title is appropriate once electric cars are popular in the northern regions of canada and russia, who are by far the largest occupiers of the arctic. Some data: It looks like the leaf's range is basically halved in cold weather. That, and the greater distances between everything in the true north, says to me that they are a long way from adoption. http://www.greencarrepo…

Electrical cars will never be popular in Russia, at least in the most parts. You have to drive at -40 temperature; you have to drive 500-1000km in one day; and not only drive, but keep warm temperature inside for passengers (not every day, but your car must be able to do that sometimes). You don't have enough money to buy many cars for different tasks, gasoline is extremely cheap (compared to Europe) and not much peo…

I assume your definition of 'never' extends.. 10-15 years into the future?
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