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It was always going to be one of the smaller countries that took the initiative, and Norway sure looked like one of the most likely candidates. However, Norway may be small in terms of population, but if you look at its shape, traveling from one end to another still means a few thousand miles trip.
With a population of about two-thirds of that of New York City, Norway has one of the lowest population densities of all European countries, but that didn't keep it from becoming the continent's leader in electric vehicle penetration on the market. The percentage of EVs out of the total number of new cars sold in Norway is at a staggering 24%, which is the highest everywhere else in the world. In fact, in most places, it barely struggles to reach the one percent mark, so nearing one-quarter is hard to imagine for some.
We keep hearing talk about government incentives for buying electric, but apart from some tax exemptions and discounts from the initial asking price, not much has been done anywhere else. The Norwegian authorities, however, plan to make their support for EVs a lot more palpable by banning any new cars using internal combustion engines from selling on the Norwegian market.
That may sound a little cruel right now (having to say "bye-bye" to a host of nice cars like Porsches and BMW Ms), but just imagine what the EV market will look like nine years from now. Almost all important manufacturers have plans to include various electric cars by 2020 in their lineups, and new companies building this kind of vehicles are showing up everywhere like mushrooms after a heavy rain. By 2025, we might actually be spoilt for choice, so there's no need to pity the Norwegians.
In fact, it you need to pity somebody, how about the rest of the world? Norway is one of the world's leading oil exporters, but the country is smart (evil?) enough to realize that it's better to make money off of it by selling the stuff to be burned somewhere else, while using as much clean energy as possible at home.
Norway is not the only country to think seriously about such a decision, but it looks like it's going to be the first one actually to do it. Local newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reports that all four parties have agreed in principle to a new energy policy that includes this ban, but it hasn't been officially approved yet.
That didn't stop Tesla's Elon Musk from congratulating Norway already, calling it an "amazingly awesome country" and telling Norwegians "you guys rock!!" I would too if I heard a whole country was going to find my products even more interesting come 2025.
We keep hearing talk about government incentives for buying electric, but apart from some tax exemptions and discounts from the initial asking price, not much has been done anywhere else. The Norwegian authorities, however, plan to make their support for EVs a lot more palpable by banning any new cars using internal combustion engines from selling on the Norwegian market.
That may sound a little cruel right now (having to say "bye-bye" to a host of nice cars like Porsches and BMW Ms), but just imagine what the EV market will look like nine years from now. Almost all important manufacturers have plans to include various electric cars by 2020 in their lineups, and new companies building this kind of vehicles are showing up everywhere like mushrooms after a heavy rain. By 2025, we might actually be spoilt for choice, so there's no need to pity the Norwegians.
In fact, it you need to pity somebody, how about the rest of the world? Norway is one of the world's leading oil exporters, but the country is smart (evil?) enough to realize that it's better to make money off of it by selling the stuff to be burned somewhere else, while using as much clean energy as possible at home.
Norway is not the only country to think seriously about such a decision, but it looks like it's going to be the first one actually to do it. Local newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reports that all four parties have agreed in principle to a new energy policy that includes this ban, but it hasn't been officially approved yet.
That didn't stop Tesla's Elon Musk from congratulating Norway already, calling it an "amazingly awesome country" and telling Norwegians "you guys rock!!" I would too if I heard a whole country was going to find my products even more interesting come 2025.
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