Photo: insideevs.com
It’s a very well known fact that Norway offers big incentives to its population, especially those looking for a new EV. Due to these rebates, the country has seen a dramatic spike in electric car sales over the last two years, in 2014 alone the eco-friendly autos accounting for 25,000 units.
It seems like the Norwegians reached their quota and want to withdraw this system of incentives from the market or, at least, cut some of it. That’s because the plan was put in motion initially for up to 50,000 cars. Since that number was reached just three days ago, the government is rethinking its strategy.
Nothing’s for sure right now, as the Norwegian finance minister has to run the numbers first and see if it's viable to keep offering this helping scheme. In the meantime, speculations appeared that it might not be sustainable from an economic point of view to keep this thing going.
At the moment, Norwegians buying EVs are exempt from paying VAT and the sales tax on their cars. This, in turn, leads to big discounts, an electric vehicle suddenly becoming even cheaper that its petrol-fueled counterparts.
Overall, it is estimated that the government allocated between $500 and $600 million on incentives, and that kind of spending can’t be sustained forever. The good part is that this way, the country’s CO2 emissions went down drastically and no, the electricity used here is not dirty.
As a matter of fact, the Scandinavian country is one of the few in the world that produces almost 100 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric power plants. That’s clean energy right there!
Nothing’s for sure right now, as the Norwegian finance minister has to run the numbers first and see if it's viable to keep offering this helping scheme. In the meantime, speculations appeared that it might not be sustainable from an economic point of view to keep this thing going.
At the moment, Norwegians buying EVs are exempt from paying VAT and the sales tax on their cars. This, in turn, leads to big discounts, an electric vehicle suddenly becoming even cheaper that its petrol-fueled counterparts.
Overall, it is estimated that the government allocated between $500 and $600 million on incentives, and that kind of spending can’t be sustained forever. The good part is that this way, the country’s CO2 emissions went down drastically and no, the electricity used here is not dirty.
As a matter of fact, the Scandinavian country is one of the few in the world that produces almost 100 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric power plants. That’s clean energy right there!
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