Norway Purchased Nearly No Gasoline Vehicles Final Yr

• Norway hit 95.9% EV share in 2025, nearly attaining its objective of getting no new fuel automobiles on the street.
• Its EV tax break solely consists of cheaper fashions in 2026, and it might change what automobiles individuals purchase this yr.
• Tesla was nonetheless the market share chief with 19.1% for a fifth consecutive yr, though Chinese language carmakers are additionally gaining floor.

Norway is properly forward of the remainder of the world in its transition to electrical autos—it is nearly full. EVs accounted for slightly below 30% of all new automobiles purchased within the nation a decade in the past, and in 2025, it nearly achieved its objective of not including any new fuel automobiles to its roads.

Though Norway isn’t within the European Union, it has very shut ties to the bloc, and in some ways it capabilities as a de facto member. Despite the fact that many EU international locations pushed again towards the Union’s plan to finish gross sales of pure combustion by 2035 (and finally bought the ban postponed), Norway stored chasing this objective and achieved it nearly a decade earlier than the remainder of Europe was presupposed to.

The nation revealed its automotive gross sales numbers for 2025, they usually present pure electrical autos made up 95.9% of the overall. Identical to the remainder of Europe, Norway has been scaling again its EV incentivesnevertheless it didn’t appear to matter as most consumers nonetheless went electrical final yr. It used to supply VAT (worth added tax) exemptions for all electrical autos, however then it a value threshold which it’s been reducing periodically.

In 2026, solely EVs costing underneath $30,000 nonetheless qualify for the exemption, which suggests most fashions on sale are not eligible. In 2025, Tesla was the nation’s hottest automotive model for the fifth consecutive yr, with a 19.1% market share, adopted by Volkswagen and Volvo. Chinese language automakers elevated their collective market share to 13.7%, up from 10.4% in 2024.

Nevertheless it wasn’t simply tax exemptions that spurred the recognition of EVs in Norway. It was additionally more and more heavy taxes on combustion automobiles, which made them uneconomical to purchase. The mix of excessive registration charges and excessive gasoline taxes makes shopping for and operating a fuel automotive dearer than going electrical, so Norwegians are selecting the latter en masse.

Its EV adoption charge of practically 100% in 2025 far exceeds the European Union’s common of 17%. Nordic international locations lead Europe for EV adoption, with Denmark coming second after Norway, with over 50% of its new automobiles being electrical, adopted by Sweden with round 37%. Plug-in hybrids range in reputation broadly throughout Europe, however they accounted for twenty-four.7% and 20.7% of all new automotive gross sales in Sweden and Finland, respectively, in accordance with the European Surroundings Company.

Norway nearly achieved its 2017 objective of absolutely transitioning to electrical autos by 2025. Many of the combustion autos bought within the nation final yr had been specialised for particular roles for which no equal EV was accessible. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see if Norway’s upward EV gross sales development continues by 2026, even with the all-important VAT exemption solely making use of to cheaper EVs and never together with the preferred electrical fashions that individuals are really shopping for.

Reuters means that the exemption, which applies solely as much as the present degree, might increase gross sales of smaller, extra inexpensive automobiles that consumers might not have beforehand thought of. There’s additionally an growing variety of good small electrical automobiles from European producers to select from, in addition to very keenly priced Chinese language fashions that qualify for the exemption, so 2026 might mark a shift within the measurement of autos purchased in Norway.