Norway Points Toward Successes and Pitfalls of Electric Cars

Norway has become the poster child for how to make electric cars succeed. However, the price of the success has been incredibly high. Norway pays yearly subsidies to electric car buyers that would be unrealistic in many countries. 

Electric cars in Norway account for 3% of total car sales. That may seem insignificant, but it is about three times as much as the rest of Europe. To have such relatively high sales, Norwegian electric car buyers do not have to pay normal car fees, sales tax, annual road tax or for the use of toll roads. They also get free public parking and are permitted in bus and taxi lanes. These savings have been valued at around €6,738 ($8,200) per year, but it varies among vehicles. These subsidies run until 2017 but could be renewed.

Norway has also built a network of free electric car chargers and is adding 800 more by 2017. Like most of the rest of the country's power, all of these chargers are supplied with electricity supplied from hydropower.

Such extreme subsidies would likely be impossible elsewhere, especially in places like the US where long range can be a factor in addition to price. Also, Norway taxes vehicles higher than nearly anywhere else. A base Golf retails for the equivalent of €31,654 ($40,700), which puts it in competitive range with a Nissan Leaf for €32,000 ($41,165). That is part of the reason sales have been so competitive. Norway has artificially shifted the prices of cars to make electric cars more attractive. 

Source: Automotive News Europe