More than 97 percent of the brand new automobiles Norwegians registered in November 2025 have been electrical, virtually reaching the nation’s purpose of 100%. Consequently, the federal government has begun eradicating a few of the many carrots it used to encourage its successful EV transition. Cecilie Knibe Kroglund, state secretary within the nation’s Ministry of Transport, reveals a few of the challenges that include success.
What have been the essential early steps to advertise the EV swap?
Kroglund: Battery-electric autos have had exemptions from the 25 p.c value-added tax and from the CO2– and weight-based registration tax that apply to combustion-engine autos. We used different tax incentives to encourage constructing charging stations on highways and in rural areas. Cities had the chance to exempt zero-emissions automobiles from toll roads. EV drivers additionally received diminished ferry fares, free parking, and entry to bus lanes in lots of cities. The expertise for the autos wasn’t that good at the beginning of the incentives program, however we had the taxes and incentives to make conventional passenger automobiles costlier.
What have been the largest obstacles, and the way did policymakers overcome them?
Kroglund: Early on the expertise was difficult. In summertime it was straightforward to gas the EV, however in wintertime it’s double the usage of vitality. However the expertise has improved rather a lot within the final 5 years.
The Norwegian tax exemptions on EVs have been launched earlier than EVs got here to market and have been decisive in offsetting the early disadvantages of EVs in comparison with typical automobiles, particularly relating to consolation, car measurement, and vary. The speedy growth of charging infrastructure alongside main corridors has additionally been essential to beat range anxiety.
How have personal corporations responded to government incentives?
Kroglund: I’m personally stunned that it went so properly. This was a long-term dedication from the federal government, and the market has responded to that. Many Norwegian corporations use EVs. The marketplace for charging infrastructure is taken into account commercially viable and now not wants monetary assist. Nevertheless, we don’t see commercial-vehicle adoption going as quick as passenger autos, and we had the identical purpose. So we must assessment the objectives, and we’ll should assessment the incentives.
What sudden new issues is Norway’s success creating?
Kroglund: The success of the passenger-vehicle insurance policies imply EVs are in competitors with public transport within the bigger cities. Driving an EV stays less expensive than driving a standard automobile even with out tax exemptions, and total automobile use continues to rise. Nationwide, regional, and native governments should discover totally different instruments to advertise strolling, bicycling, and public transport as a result of every metropolis and area is totally different.
How relevant are these classes to poorer or much less well-administered international locations and why?
Kroglund: We’re totally different as international locations. The geographies are totally different, and a few international locations have even greater cities than our nationwide inhabitants. This isn’t a coverage for L.A., however what we see in Norway is that incentives work. Nevertheless, tax incentives are solely relevant in techniques the place efficient taxation is established, which will not be the case in poorer international locations. Different advantages, similar to decrease native emissions, solely apply in locations with a number of visitors.
The Norwegian expertise exhibits that the financial incentives work, however it additionally exhibits that EVs work even in a rustic with chilly climate.
This text seems within the February 2026 print problem as “Cecilie Knibe Kroglund.”
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