Norway leads the world in adopting the electric vehicle model with 87% of its new car sales being EV's (for comparison, in the US it's 7%). So they've earned the approval of the NYT, the World Economic Forum, and of course Elon Musk.
With declining popularity in the US, you could wonder why Norway's embrace of EV's is all-in. In fact, some in my family suspect that cold weather like Norway's would seriously impact the usefulness of a battery-run car.
It turns out that government policy is the answer to the puzzle. "Eye-popping EV subsidies have flowed largely to the affluent." Well, that explains it. EV owners were exempted from paying big tax on car sales (averaging $27k today) and from paying for tolls, parking, and ferries.
Abundant hydropower is Norway's clean source of electricity, and it's relatively cheap. But climate change fear motivates them to reduce use of fossil fuels, as the prime minister said in 2019, “We want people to buy electric cars. It is the most important thing you can do personally and privately to help reduce climate emissions.”
from Vox
(cont'd tomorrow)
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