Electric mobility in contrast: what does Norway do that Mexico doesn’t?

In 2017, Norway set a goal of ending sales of fossil-fuel-powered cars by 2025. At the time, it seemed like little more than a fantasy to soften the image of a government led by Erna Solberg, an advocate of oil production who had earned the nickname “Iron Erna.” But as the deadline approaches, it turns out the Nordic country is indeed on the cusp of meeting that goal.

The achievement, admittedly, has been made possible by the country’s fossil fuel exports ($108 billion in 2023), but it stands out in a context where electric vehicle sales have fallen across Europe and are showing little progress in the United States, where the adoption of electric cars is in jeopardy with the return of Donald Trump to power. The initial goal was “utopian,” acknowledges Harald Andersen, director of the Norwegian association of car importers, which brings together companies ranging from young Chinese carmakers to the German giant Volkswagen AG. “We set ambitious goals,” he says, “but those goals were accompanied by the right policies.”

These policies are mostly incentives, dating back to 1994, when the Think City (a small, boxy electric car that made its debut at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics) was exempted from registration taxes. As the technology began to take hold a decade or two later, successive governments added more benefits for EV owners: free parking, access to dedicated bus lanes, and exemptions from tolls , road taxes and value-added taxes.

Although Norway has begun to reduce some advantages (from 2023, for example, those who buy more expensive models have had to pay a portion of VAT), the most important ones remain in place, so that EVs are proliferating on Norwegian streets . As a result, mechanics' workshops are investing in qualifications and facilities suitable for working with batteries. Gas station chains, such as Circle K, are removing gas pumps to introduce electric plugs. And power grid operators are inundated with requests for the higher voltage connections needed for charging points.

EVs were initially on the road in cities such as Oslo and Bergen, but are now popping up as far afield as the Svalbard archipelago and the small town of Kirkenes, just a few miles from the Russian border. By September, at least 90 percent of new cars sold in all of Norway’s counties were electric , and in some places they were as high as 98 percent, according to the Road Federation. All in all, EVs currently account for only a quarter of the national vehicle fleet, and will probably not reach half before 2030.

In Norway, there are currently around 170 electric models to choose from. Tesla has overtaken Toyota and VW to become the best-selling brand. Chinese manufacturers such as Xpeng, BYD and Nio are competing for the best location for their dealerships in central Oslo , and their dealerships woo customers with parties and family trips to an alpaca farm.

Countries looking to accelerate the move away from fossil fuels might well adopt Norway’s strategy of offering tax breaks but avoiding a complete ban on combustion cars. While gasoline vehicles will still be able to be sold in 2025 and beyond, given the scale of the incentives (which have amounted to billions of dollars in lost tax revenue), electric vehicles have a much lower cost of ownership.

That’s according to Christina Bu, secretary general of Norway’s electric vehicle association, who says the initial appeal of EVs was primarily to environmentally conscious Norwegians, but that’s changing as confidence in the technology grows and charging options multiply. Initially, it was common for buyers to keep their petrol-powered cars as a backup, but today nearly two-thirds of households with electric vehicles only have that mode of transport. “People come to me delighted and say they never wanted an electric vehicle, but now they’re very proud to own one,” says Bu. “It’s a lesson other countries can learn from.”

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