Plug-in electric vehicles in Norway

[19][20] In 2017, and as a result of its fast growing EV adoption, Norway was able to achieve its climate target for average fleet CO2 emissions (85 g/km) for new passenger cars three years earlier than pledged.

[67] This fiscal incentive combined with a broader range of models available in the market resulted in record sales of plug-in hybrids in 2015, with almost 8,000 new units registered, up from about 1,700 in 2014.

[70] As the number of registered electric cars and vans reached 60,000 units by July 2015, and because the "EL" prefix was set to end at "EL 99999" (most vehicles in the country have five-digit registration numbers between 10000 and 99999), the Norwegian Public Roads agency opted for the prefix "EK" for the second series of plates, to signify "elektrisk kjøretøy", Norwegian for electric vehicle.

In addition, an ESA spokesman confirmed that the Government has not sent any request as of September 2014[update], nor has the agency received any complaints about Norway's original EV tax exemption.

The value-added tax (VAT) exemption for electric cars was scheduled to end in 2018, but replaced by a new scheme, which may be subjected to a ceiling that could be reduced as technology develops.

It also put forward a national rule to keep a maximum tax rate of zero-emission vehicles equal to half the value charged to conventional cars.

The NTP set policies and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from private cars, trucks, ships, aircraft and construction equipment by about one half until 2030.

The proposed strategy states that until zero-emission vehicles take over, all internal combustion engine cars sold be plug-in hybrids, and wherever possible, biofuels must be used.

The plan also calls to support the deployment of zero emission vehicles, but also for the reduction of the existing incentives, and proposes to invest more in public transport, walking and cycling.

"[33] According to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, as of August 2014[update], electric cars represent 85% of traffic in the bus lanes during rush hours.

[35] As part of the incentives to promote EV adoption, plug-in electric vehicles are exempted from payment of ferryboat fees, but only the car crosses for free, the driver and each passenger pay the ordinary fare.

The accelerated growth of electric cars on some ferry routes has caused complaints from ferryboat operators due to the increasing loss on their farebox revenues.

The company argues that "no one could foresee the tremendous growth of electric cars we see on some ferry routes, but the Austevoll satellite connection involves a significant loss of revenue for us.

[102] The study also found that about half of the respondents to the 2013 survey own a Nissan Leaf the best-selling electric car in Norway and among the top five at the general model ranking.

[19] The Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association (Norsk Elbilforening) conducted a survey among all-electric car owners in June 2018, with a total of 9,520 respondents.

[109] A total of 5,281 used imported electric cars were registered in 2016, up 3.1% from 2015, with registrations led by two popular plug-in models, the Kia Soul (2,494) and the Nissan Leaf (2,112).

[111] As of 27 February 2021[update], cumulative registrations of used imports from neighbouring countries totalled 51,333 all-electric cars and utility vans, representing 13.8% of all light-duty pure electric vehicles ever registered in Norway.

[112] The most popular second hand import models are the Nissan Leaf with 19,281 units, Kia Soul EV with 13,464, VW e-Golf with 4,113, Fiat 500e with 1,615, BMW i3 with 1,445, Hyundai Ioniq with 1,399, Volkswagen e-Up!

The study concludes that "Norway stands largely alone in its mass-market embrace of electric vehicles, so it provides a real-world picture of future EV sales proportions that developed markets could experience over the next five to ten years.

[171][172] The e-Golf was again the top selling plug-in electric car in August 2014 with 467 units sold, representing 43.4% of the Golf nameplate sales that month (1,075).

[151] The Tesla Model S, released in August 2013, ranks second with cumulative sales of 6,023 new units up until December 2014,[38][153] with about 14% of the total registered plug-in electric vehicle stock.

[126][190] As of December 2017[update], and accounting for both new and used imports registrations, a total of 141,951 all-electric passenger cars and vans, and 67,171 plug-in hybrids have been registered in the country since 2010.

[206] The Nissan Leaf continued to be the most popular model in the plug-in segment with 49,823 units registered by early December 2018, representing 25% of total all-electric car registrations in Norway.

[64] The world's highest-ever monthly market share for sales of plug-in electric passenger cars was achieved by Norway in December 2020, with a take rate of 87.1% of new registrations.

The waiting list for models slated for release in the Norwegian market in the near future include: the Audi e-tron quattro (6,300), Kia e-Niro (5,900), Porsche Taycan (2,300), Mercedes-Benz EQC (2,200), DS Crossback E-Tense (1,350), and BMW iX3 (1,000).

[221] As of 4 January 2025[update], the Nissan Leaf continues to be the all-time best selling plug-in-electric car in Norway, with 80,967 units registered since inception, including 21,848 used imports.

[5][223] However, according to Forbes, government figures for the sales of petroleum products in 2017, show that for the first time since 2014 Norway's consumption of petrol and diesel declined across the board in 2017.

The net gain in reduction of average fleet CO2 emissions is due to the large market share of 42.4% of new car sales achieved by the all-electric segment in 2019 (including 29 fuel cell hydrogen vehicles).

[230][231] According to Der Spiegel, by the early fourth quarter of 2015 the Kia Soul EV ranked as the top-selling plug-in electric car in Germany during 2015 with 2,459 units sold, with almost 1,000 registered in October, nevertheless, there were actually only a few of them on German roads.

According to the magazine, Kia Motors is registering the electric cars in Germany and then shipping them to Norway, which does not belong to the European Union, as a strategy to reduce the average CO2 fleet emissions of the entire Hyundai-Kia Group.