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Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

cleantechnica.com

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Re: Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

#3
As a Norwegian this keep coming up in lunch conversations. I just bought an old used car from somebody buying a Tesla.

What we come back to is the very high sale taxes on new cars in Norway (our "rule of thumb" is that cars are close to twice as expensive in Norway as in some other countries), but that most(/all?) of those taxes are waived for electric. So the alternative to getting, e.g., a Tesla is paying almost twice as much for a "similar" BMW. Same story for lower-end cars.

Also, on the commuter high-ways leading in to Oslo, there's one lane that's reserved for bus+taxi+electric (similar to the 2+ or 3+ person-per-car lanes in California). There's a joke that there's a standing queue of Teslas in that lane now (though I don't drive there so I haven't seen how much of an exaggeration that is).

Also, electric don't pay on the toll roads, which saves you 3-4$ each time if you're living outside towns and commuting in.

Re: Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

#4
post #3

As a Norwegian this keep coming up in lunch conversations. I just bought an old used car from somebody buying a Tesla. What we come back to is the very high sale taxes on new cars in Norway (our "rule of thumb" is that cars are close to twice as expensive in Norway as in some other countries), but that most(/all?) of those taxes are waived for electric. So the alternative to getting, e.g., a Tesla is paying almost tw…

(Please don't take this in a bad way, I'm just curious and not judging)

How do people feel being a top oil exporter and doing green policies/laws internally?

Re: Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

#5
post #3

As a Norwegian this keep coming up in lunch conversations. I just bought an old used car from somebody buying a Tesla. What we come back to is the very high sale taxes on new cars in Norway (our "rule of thumb" is that cars are close to twice as expensive in Norway as in some other countries), but that most(/all?) of those taxes are waived for electric. So the alternative to getting, e.g., a Tesla is paying almost tw…

About prices, I compared prices in Sweden of a new Audi A4 and a Tesla S as normally cars are much more expensive in Norway, but for Tesla it's cheaper in Norway. I have not checked any rules about taxes or such, just got the prices for the same model from audis and teslas regional web pages.

             Sweden   Norway
  Audi A4    33 269   64 843
  Tesla S    70 798   55 682
(Prices in €)

Re: Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

#8
post #3

As a Norwegian this keep coming up in lunch conversations. I just bought an old used car from somebody buying a Tesla. What we come back to is the very high sale taxes on new cars in Norway (our "rule of thumb" is that cars are close to twice as expensive in Norway as in some other countries), but that most(/all?) of those taxes are waived for electric. So the alternative to getting, e.g., a Tesla is paying almost tw…

The electricity:petrol price ratio is also more favorable in Norway than many other countries, thanks to a combination of high petrol taxes but not too expensive electricity (due to the large hydroelectric capacity).

For example, in California, typical petrol prices are around $0.85/L ($3.20/gal), and residential electricity prices are around $0.17/kWh. So you get about 5 kWh of electricity for the cost of a liter of petrol. Meanwhile in Norway, typical petrol prices are around $2.45/L ($9.25/gal), and residential electricity prices are around $0.25/kWh. So you get about 10 kWh of electricity for the cost of a liter of petrol.

edit: Actually might be an even bigger ratio. I was getting the Norwegian retail price of $0.25/kWh from Eurostat [1], but Statistics Norway gives a price of only $0.14/kWh [2]. Which would make for nearly 18 kWh for the cost of a L of petrol, 3-4x better ratio than in California.

[1] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index....

[2] http://www.ssb.no/en/elkraftpris

Re: Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

#9
post #7
post #6

I am proud of you Norway! Can't wait for Canada to do the same.

You can't wait for Canada to put a 100+% tax on gas-powered vehicles? I have bad news for you...

To be honest, that would make my day, I wish gas was triple the actual price.

Re: Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row

#10
post #4
post #3

As a Norwegian this keep coming up in lunch conversations. I just bought an old used car from somebody buying a Tesla. What we come back to is the very high sale taxes on new cars in Norway (our "rule of thumb" is that cars are close to twice as expensive in Norway as in some other countries), but that most(/all?) of those taxes are waived for electric. So the alternative to getting, e.g., a Tesla is paying almost tw…

(Please don't take this in a bad way, I'm just curious and not judging) How do people feel being a top oil exporter and doing green policies/laws internally?

I am a Norwegian myself, and you just entered the big issue in the environment debate here. There are a lot of activists criticizing the fact that if we are exporting oil, it doesn't help with all the "green" measures we do. However, there are even more people thinking that it does not help anyone if we stop exporting oil, because the same amount of oil is getting burnt everyday regardless of what we do. So the only thing we will achieve by stopping to export oil, will be to "make a statement", and probably other nations will produce more polluting oil, due to a less environmental-friendly production process. We achieve a lower standard of living, and we will probably make no/small impact on the environment by stopping. I actually understand both arguments, so it is hard to take a stand.
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