Economics
The country is trying to wean itself fromthe sweeteners that have made it the world’s top electric car market.
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Norway’s generous tax incentives and subsidies for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure have created the world’s most successful market for battery-powered autos. In May and June, more than 96% of new passenger car purchases were EVs or hybrids, and last year the Tesla Model Y became the bestselling vehicle in Norwegian history, edging out the 1969 Volkswagen Beetle in annual sales.
But Norway is now confronting an unprecedented challenge: how to wean its citizens off the sweeteners that spurred this success. While its experience shows that simply getting rid of combustion engines isn’t a complete fix for a nation’s transportation woes, Norway’s path will be instructive for countries such as the US, where the Inflation Reduction Act is designed to accelerate the transition to EVs.
