Norway Underestimated How Fast It Could Phase Out Gas-Burning Cars

GURPS · Feb 4, 2022

Norway broke records in 2021 by becoming the first country where fully-electric cars accounted for more than 50 percent of new car sales. The Nordic country is back with more record-breaking, this time covering a noteworthy month rather than a year. In January of 2022, nearly 84 percent of new cars sold in Norway were EVs, as Bloomberg reports. The report goes on to say that Norway could be three years ahead of schedule for phasing out ICE cars altogether.

I’ll try to be measured about the stat. I wouldn’t want to sensationalize it, but holy crap, the remaining 16(ish) percent means that out of 8,000 new cars sold in January, gas-burning cars numbered a paltry 387 units. In light of these latest stats, Bloomberg reports Norway may reach it’s ambitious goal of all new cars sold being fully-electric two months from now. From Bloomberg:

Last year, Norway became the first country in the world to see electric cars overtake fossil models among new vehicles, helped by generous government incentives. The oil-rich nation may see all new cars become emission-free as soon as April, based on current trends, the Norwegian Automobile Federation has suggested.

OK. I said I’d be measured about the stats, so I’ll give a little context. For starters, Norway has a population just under 5.4 million. If you compare that to the U.S., the population of Norway puts it somewhere between South Carolina (5.19 million) and Minnesota (5.7 million.) The highest-populated states in the U.S. are unsurprisingly California (39.2 million) and Texas (29.5 million) and I’m not going to casually compare those with Norway. But if the entire state of South Carolina — as the home of BMW in the U.S. — or most of Minnesota decided to pass on ICE cars whole-sale, it’d be a big deal.