Electric car sales in Norway accounted for 58.4 percent of the market in March, thus claiming more than half of all car sales for the first time ever. Norway has long led the pack in so-called el-bil popularity but now the numbers are being branded as “historic.”
Major tax incentives have been behind the acceleration of the electric car market. Sales continue to climb and eat into conventional car’s market share, even though motorists may be losing some of the advantages they’ve enjoyed like free charging, free parking and exemption from road tolls. Experts attribute that to climate concerns and the need to cut carbon emissions.
“Norway is showing the whole world that fully electric cars can replace petrol and diesel cars and become an important contribution to combat CO2 emissions, as well as relieving local air from other harmful gases caused by burning fossil fuels,” claimed Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian EV Association.
The new numbers are based on vehicle registrations for full electric BEV (battery electric vehicles). Tesla also set another “benchmark,” the association noted, with 5,315 Model 3 units registered in March. That beats the record set by Nissan LEAF last year.
newsinenglish.no staff
