Norway—The World Leader in BEV Adoption

Norway is the leading per capita BEV market in the world. The share of BEVs in the fleet exceeded 5% in December 2017 with another 2.5% being PHEVs. The market shares of BEVs and PHEVs in 2017 were 20% and 18% respectively. The total market share of BEVs and PHEVs in 2018 was well above 40% and in 2019 exceeded 50%. These vehicles have easily been adopted by Norwegian households. 4 out of 5 BEV owners, however, own another vehicle, giving them the option to swap vehicles when the range is too short. A strong incentive package has been introduced since 1990. The political targets which these incentives are intended to support have developed over the years. While these incentives were initially introduced to allow for experimentation with electric vehicles, and subsequent industrialization efforts, they are now geared towards meeting climate policy targets of reducing transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions. These incentives induced 20 years of BEV niche market experimentation and led to a fleet of 3000 BEVs by 2009. The long-term stability of BEV policies, the public awareness of BEVs created by their owners, the competences developed in the niche markets, and the strong incentive package, became a window of opportunity for the traditional passenger vehicle importers. When BEVs became available from their brands from 2010, they could import and sell them with immediate success using their vast national dealer networks.