Norway set yet another record in the electric vehicle (EV) market share in 2024, with nine out of ten new passenger car sales being battery EVs, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed on Thursday. A total of 88.9% of all new passenger car sales were battery EVs, up from 82.4% in 2023, according to the data. The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling car in Norway last year, followed by Tesla Model 3, Volvo EX30, Volkswagen ID.4, and Toyota bZ4X.
The EV sales in Norway are expected to reach new heights in 2025, said Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian EV association. The government incentives for EV purchases, combined with rising taxes for new cars with internal combustion engines (ICE), are driving the continuous increase in the share of battery EV sales in Norway, the association’s head noted. Norway is a global leader in EV market share. The country, which is Western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer, has strong incentives for EV purchases for its 5 million residents. The second closest developed country in terms of EV market share, Denmark, has just crossed the 50% share mark. The average EU share of EV sales out of all new car sales is just over 13%, and the biggest European market, Germany, has around the same share, too. This year, Norway has been more or less an outlier in EV sales in Europe, as electric car sales in the continent have dropped. The share of battery-electric car sales in the EU – which does not include Norway – fell to 15% in November from 16.3% a year earlier, while volumes dropped by 9.5%, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, ACEA, said last month. Earlier this year, Germany’s car manufacturing giant BMW warned that an EU ban on the sale of gasoline and diesel cars from 2035 is “no longer realistic” amid slow EV sales as the European auto industry will see a “massive shrinking” with such a ban