Why Norway fell in love with electric cars (and Britain didn’t)

Britain has some of the toughest regulations in the world to encourage more electric cars on roads.

But the number of drivers making the switch in neighbouring Norway dwarfs our efforts – and the country is yet to impose a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles.

While ministers in Britain have set strict targets for firms to sell ever larger numbers of electric vehicles and banned drivers being able to buy new petrol or diesel cars after 2035, Norway has prioritised carrot over stick.

The Scandinavian country offers electric car buyers a deal of alluring incentives – and almost no mandates at all. As a result, it has the highest number of electric cars per capita of anywhere in the world. 

Sveinung Kvalø, senior advisor at the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, says “people are free to choose petrol and diesel cars if they need them” but that “if you make the incentives right people will choose electric.”

Mr Kvalø, whose organisation represents more than 120,000 battery-powered car owners, says that “the idea is that we get enough people to understand that we can use these cars in the same way as a petrol or diesel car.

“We don’t have a ban. It’s all about the incentives, we have really strong incentives for buying electric cars.

“Our idea is that you have to get every car in the country to be electric and make all the new sales of cars electric.”

Last year, Norwegian car buyers were just shy of opting for electric cars on 80pc of new vehicle sales, a target the UK is six years away from meeting, assuming the Government’s targets are met.

In Norway, drivers do not have to pay VAT – which is more widespread than in the UK – on the cost of buying a battery-powered car, bringing prices down by approximately 25pc.

The country has virtually achieved price parity between fossil fuel cars and electric counterparts.

Parking is also free for electric car drivers in many major cities, while going electric comes with a 30pc rebate on fees at motorway toll gates and ferry fares are half price.

While the UK has approximately 53 electric cars for every one charging point, Norway has 34, according to official figures from 2022.

Mr Kvalø adds that after the success of Norway’s electric car policies, the government there has begun taking away several of the perks that drove many to opt for an electric car

“They are reducing the incentives because electric vehicles have started becoming more competitive,” he explains.

He also acknowledges that “it will take 20 years until the last fossil fuel car is out of the system” because “most people don’t have the money to buy a new car so they buy used cars”.

The VAT exemption now only applies to cars below kr500,000 (£36,800) and drivers must now pay a registration fee on new vehicles.

Political leaders began considering proposals in the summer that would ban fossil fuel vehicle sales in the new car market from 2025, which are mostly still bought by companies, to tackle the remaining 20pc of sales that are not electric, although this is yet to be made into law. 

While Labour is set to hand drivers grants worth around £1,500 to buy an electric car to jumpstart Britain’s electric car uptake should they win the next general election, Britain’s approach so far has been starkly different. Policy has been to push consumers away from petrol and diesel, with the most polluting cars denied entry to city centres without pay, higher emissions-based parking fees and an outright ban on new sales. 

James Court, chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Association of England, also says the Government flip-flopping on net zero targets and a lack of infrastructure has impacted supply and consumer confidence. He criticised Rishi Sunak’s decision  – announced in a speech by the prime minister in September – to delay the petrol and diesel car ban to 2035.

“We are beginning to see the financial benefits [of electric cars] but the speech from Rishi [Sunak] has had an impact across the industry.

“He was talking down the achievements that successive governments had made and if you introduce the element of doubt then people are going to be left scratching their heads.”

He says that the UK could learn from Norway’s success in using soft tactics to encourage drivers to switch to electric. 

“[Norway] were very much first movers and the tax credit system there was very generous,” he says. 

“What they’ve also done particularly well is the softer benefits. They got the infrastructure right and they were very ahead of the curve in putting down chargers.”

He adds that improving access to charge points and reconsidering financial incentives, such as the £1,500 plug-in car grant scheme which ended in April last year, could help meet targets.

“Infrastructure for existing drivers is adequate to good in places but we need it to be much better if we are going to convince the wider population [and] we’ve taken away grants too soon.”