Norway Hits Milestone as Electric Cars Surpass Petrol Vehicles (theguardian.com) 48
Electric cars now outnumber petrol cars in Norway for the first time, an industry organisation has said, a world first that puts the country on track towards taking fossil fuel vehicles off the road. From a report: Of the 2.8m private cars registered in the Nordic country, 754,303 are all-electric, against 753,905 that run on petrol, the Norwegian road federation (OFV) said in a statement. Diesel models remain the most numerous at just under 1m, but their sales are falling rapidly. "This is historic. A milestone few saw coming 10 years ago," said OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen. "The electrification of the fleet of passenger cars is going quickly, and Norway is thereby rapidly moving towards becoming the first country in the world with a passenger car fleet dominated by electric cars."
Thats impossible (Score:4, Funny)
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The range is good enough that it doesn't matter. Just like fossil cars lose range in the cold, but you can fill them up quickly.
Norway has plenty of fast chargers, and Nio battery swap stations that take about 4 and a half minutes.
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Is it generally even needed to charge on the go? One of the big advantages of electric cars is obviously that they can typically be charged at home, fast or not.
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Depends on how far you're driving between stops at home.
Re:Thats impossible (Score:4, Informative)
Winter gas contains ~1.7% less energy per unit of fuel.
The major reasons for reduced fuel economy in the winter are things that affect all cars: increased rolling resistance on the roads, increased air density (aerodynamic drag)
Indeed, a car at 20F is expected to have about 15% lower fuel economy than a car at 77F.
It's a little better than EVs- but not much.
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You better tell Norway then!
https://www.caranddriver.com/f... [caranddriver.com]
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Electric cars don't work when its cold outside. Many random internet posters have assured me that this is true.
According to Norway's own study EVs lose on average 20% range in cold weather, so they obviously still work but are definitely also negatively affected by it.
In general, Norway's success with EVs is due to their government's policy which pushed EVs through massive incentives and legislation aimed at making life much easier for EV owners.
Countries that wish to reach similar numbers as Norway should take note and implement similar measures. Relying on the free market alone is not going to work in the timefram
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Countries that wish to reach similar numbers as Norway should take note and implement similar measures. Relying on the free market alone is not going to work in the timeframes most government have envisioned for EVs adoption.
Norway has a ridiculous amount of money in their oil funds and they have thrown a lot of it at incentivizing people to buy EV's and building out their network of chargers, there aren't many countries that have that kind of resources. Anyone buying an EV in Norway are entitled up to about $8000 in subsidies and tax breaks.
Although Norway currently has a problem, they don't have enough transmission capacity to keep up with the ever increasing demand of electricity due to the electrification and are now suppos
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Re: Thats impossible (Score:1)
The US offers just $500 less than that. But there seems to be a concerted FUD campaign against EVs here.
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Considering all the kicking and dragging that has been going on in the US the last decade in regards to EV's I'm very surprised that IRS Section 30D managed to pass since it is quite generous.
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Norway also doesn't slap cars imported from China with tariffs, so they are cheaper.
The #1 model in Norway is the Model Y, made in Shanghai.
#2 is the Volvo EX30, made in Zhangjiakou (also China)
#3 is the Volkswagen ID.4, manufactured in Zwickau, Germany, and Anting, China.
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>In general, Norway's success with EVs is due to their government's policy which pushed EVs through massive incentives and legislation aimed at making life much easier for EV owners.
Countries that wish to reach similar numbers as Norway should take note and implement similar measures. Relying on the free market alone is not going to work in the timeframes most government have envisioned for EVs adoption.
That is only part of the story. There is also the fact that the population has very different driving habits than US drivers. They drive about half the distance of US drivers. The road networks are not as dispersed as the US so deploying chargers is more practical. They are also wealthier so the prices are less of an issue. Very different people in very different driving circumstances.
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Also in many places they'll drive the cars to a train station for the rest of the commute. Often they may live closer to work as well. I suspect that when you get to rural areas that ICE vehicles are more common.
Re: Thats impossible (Score:2)
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You get about a third of the range at around -30 and closer to a quarter at -40C, if you maintain reasonable cabin temperature but otherwise they're more or less usable (though coolant leaks and such are a thing). Goes up to about a half at -20C. So they're going to be decent in Oslo summer, and shitty in Kirkenes winter.
Battery degradation really kicks in when you use them like that though. Lithium batteries really don't like being used at the thermal extremes, and start to have permanent degradation to a
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You get about a third of the range at around -30 and closer to a quarter at -40C, if you maintain reasonable cabin temperature but otherwise they're more or less usable (though coolant leaks and such are a thing). Goes up to about a half at -20C. So they're going to be decent in Oslo summer, and shitty in Kirkenes winter.
It'll be fine in Kirkenes, where the average low in December is about -10C.
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People who live in such extremes tend to have block heaters for their ICE vehicles or keep them in a heated garage though, right? If your EV is kept warm and you just run to the grocery store at -40 (in this case F or C doesn't matter), I would think the loss of range and/or wear and tear wouldn't matter so much. It gets harder if you have to leave it parked at the office all day with no trickle-charge or heater; but what do people with ICEs do in such extreme environments? Is the block heater only neede
Re: Thats impossible (Score:3)
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We see at least a few weeks of -40 every winter. A lot of older vehicles get plugged in because they just won't start otherwise, or if they are big diesels. But many vehicles start just fine in the cold these days. I never plug my SUV in. Remote start is a nice thing to have! You definitely do not want to drive a vehicle when it's that cold until it has run for at least a few minutes to start warming up get getting proper lubrication. If a vehicle won't start, don't crank for more than 15 seconds or s
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Your petrol or diesel car doesn't like -40C either. At that temp everyone will be using plug in engine block heaters. An EV can do the same thing when it's plugged in.
Re: Thats impossible (Score:2)
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Compared to, say North Dakota in the winter, Norway is quite balmy. Sweden also has a lot of EVs on the road, but Sweden is also quite a bit warmer than parts of the midwest, despite its northern latitude. In other words they don't get quite as cold for so long.
Where I live in Alberta, when it's drops down below -20, range of EVs is cut about in half. But for a lot of the winter, it's not that cold, and so range is not cut nearly as much. But you do have to keep them plugged in at night if not for charg
Norway has abundance of electricity (Score:3)
Density (Score:3)
Also, about half the population of Norway live in the ten largest cities, so building out charging infrastructure is fairly easy.
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I thought I read somewhere that every citizen of Norway gets a stipend from offshore oil production. A country rich in resources like this, and small, could pull this off faster than larger, less well off, countries.
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You know I think I'd rather see more Kei Trucks (Score:2)
I mean sure if you get hit by an SUV you're going to die but there's plenty of people putting about on motorcycles who can say the same thing. And those Kei Trucks get something like 40 mi to the gallon in Citi.
Whatever the case cars are rapidly becoming unaffordable and we're going to have to do something about that.
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And the like but I'm seriously doubting that's going to happen because big pickup trucks are a multi-billion dollar industry in America and one of the most profitable ones in existence. I mean sure if you get hit by an SUV you're going to die but there's plenty of people putting about on motorcycles who can say the same thing. And those Kei Trucks get something like 40 mi to the gallon in Citi. Whatever the case cars are rapidly becoming unaffordable and we're going to have to do something about that. You can't have a transportation system that half the population can't afford to use. At least not without massive social problems
You don't see many Kei vehicles in the US due to safety regulations [arstechnica.com] in most states. That said, I just discovered they're legal in mine, so I might look into one for my next vehicle.
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Surely you mean (Score:5, Funny)
Norway hits kilometerstone,
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In Norway its spelt kilometre.
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No. Kilometer is kilometer in both Bokmål [wiktionary.org] and Nynorsk [wiktionary.org].
Kilometre is British English.
scale (Score:1)
There are more cars driving down the road in Los Angeles as you read this, vastly more are parked. Can they scale up 10x and across a much more diverse set of people and incomes? Didn't think so. Small EU countries love to pat themselves on the back when they get all 4 people in their country to do something. These things never scale. The world needs solutions for heterogeneous environments too.
Re: scale (Score:2)
Norway isnâ(TM)t in the EU.
While its population might be small, Norway isnâ(TM)t that small. Itâ(TM)s 8th largest, and bigger than the UK, Italy and Poland.
Surely itâ(TM)s easier and more efficient to install infrastructure in a city?
Re: scale (Score:2)
To clarify: thatâ(TM)s 8th largest in Europe.
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Norway's total population is a bit of half that of Los Angeles County, in nearly 40 times the real estate.
Obviously, they'd made EVs work pretty well for them (though diesel is still more common that EV - EVs have only surpassed gasoline), but the conditions that made that happen are pretty unique to Norway.
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Los Angeles County has nearly twice as many people as all of Norway (in an area about 1/40th the size), and pretty much everyone drives every day. Average commute is a bit longer in LA, average distance is a bit shorter. 63% of Angelinos rent, which means they really can't install a home charger. And a great deal of LA is . . . not a great neighborhood, and the average meth head will certainly try to steal the copper in a charger to get his next fix (it's happening already).
These are challenges the monkeys
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Of course not. Nothing that works in other countries could ever possibly work in the United States, so it's not even worth trying. Sure, the USA has the worst healthcare system of wealthy nations [thehill.com] and the highest gun-death rate in the G20 and one of the least-trustworthy voting systems in the developed world, but THE USA CAN'T TRY THINGS THAT OTHER COUNTRIES DO BECAUSE IT'S UNAMERICAN AND THERE ARE REASONS IT WILL FAIL FOR SURE FOR SURE.
congratulations (Score:3)
It's handy being a vastly wealthy petro-state.
Norway? So what! (Score:1)