Norway is on the cusp of becoming the first country to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel cars as adoption of electric vehicles soars.
According to reports in the BBC, the number of electric cars on Norway’s roads outnumbered those powered by petrol for the first time last year, with EVs accounting for almost a third of all cars on Norwegian roads.
Sales data suggests that this trend is only set to continue.
Eighty-eight per cent of new cars sold in the country last year were EVs, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) shows.
In some months sales of fully electric cars were as high as 98 per cent, as new petrol or diesel car purchases almost fizzled out.
By contrast, in the UK electric cars made up only 20 per cent of new car registrations in 2024, and in the US the figure was just 8 per cent up from 7.6 per cent the year before.
Christina Bu, the secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association, says people have been gradually pushed away from polluting cars and pulled towards environmentally friendly vehicles in the country.
“Little by little taxing petrol and diesel engine cars more, so they have become a lot more expensive to purchase, whereas electric cars have been exempted from taxes.”
Even though it’s a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims for all new cars sold to be “zero emission”, starting at some point in 2025. A non-binding goal was set back in 2017, and that milestone now lies within reach.
“We are closing up on the target, and I think that we will reach that goal,” Norway’s deputy transport minister, Cecilie Knibe Kroglund says. “I think we have already made the transition for passengers cars.”
Related: Mike Graham has just had another concrete growing moment