Viking Magazine - October 2018 - 21

Norway's Electric
Car Boom
stations are needed everywhere. As
of last April, Norway had about 700
quick-charging stations, places where
topping off a battery takes about 30
minutes. But along busy highways on
weekends, she says, you might end
up third in line for a so-called quickcharging
spot.
Norway
has about
700 quickcharging
stations
the
2025 goal, " we also need everyone
who doesn't care about the environment
to use zero-emission cars. "
That will take much more than tax
and toll exemptions, however.
Too Few Charging Options
EV owners so far tend to be
concentrated in Norway's cities, but
not in the heart of the city. Instead,
a majority live in neighborhoods of
individual homes, where they can easily
charge their cars overnight by plugging
into charging units they've installed in
their own garages.
For apartment dwellers in Oslo and
elsewhere, charging is more challenging.
" The main problem for the big
cities is that there are too few charging
points, " both public and private,
Thorsen says. " We see that we have
to change the legislation regarding
new houses and construction so that
everyone putting up a new building has
to include charging stations. "
Marina Maneas Bakkum,
communications director for Nissan
Nordic Europe, says more charging
Nissan took a step toward
improving the situation four years
ago. It helped cover the cost of
64 charging stations at 50 Kiwi
grocery stores around Norway in
a partnership with Kiwi and the
Finnish energy company Fortum.
Fortum operates nearly half of
Norway's quick-charging stations.
Another big provider, the Norwegian
company Grønn Kontakt, operates
a little more than 180 charging
stations. But getting more companies
into the charging business in Norway
has been a challenge, Bakkum says.
While Norway's sales of EVs and
plug-in hybrids are impressive, those
cars are still a small slice of what is
already a small Norwegian market.
There just isn't enough demand
to make charging stations a very
attractive business opportunity yet.
In fact, Enova, an enterprise owned
and operated by Norway's Ministry
of Climate and Environment, has
been subsidizing the installation of
charging stations, particularly in
Norway's smaller and underserved
communities.
Too Few EVs
Bakkum says there's a similar
challenge when it comes to the
supply of EVs. Manufacturers must
decide how much of their production
capacity they're willing to devote
to what remains a small market
segment, not only in Norway, but also
globally. Most carmakers are opting
to keep their EV inventory slim.
Summer 2013
The government introduces
financial incentives, including
weight tax deduction for
plug-in hybrids.
September 2013
The launch of Tesla
Model S makes
Norway the first
country in the world
to have an electric
car topping the
new car sales
monthly ranking.
March 2014
1 percent of Norway's cars
are plug-in electric.
December 2016
The 100,000th
all-electric vehicle
is registered.
April 2017
Half of all new cars
sold are either
electric or plug-in.
December 2017
Tesla becomes the
most popular
carmaker on a monthly
basis in Norway.
December 2017
32 percent of Norway's
cars are plug-in electric.
PHOTO BY GRETHE ULGJELL / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Viking Magazine - October 2018

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