Electric Cars Will Soon Outnumber Gasoline Cars In Norway

Diesel could be next in 2-3 years.

Years of exceptionally high sales of electric cars gradually changed Norwegian roads, where soon it will be easier to spot an all-electric car than a gasoline car.

According to Statistics of Norway and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (via Reuters), by as soon as the end of this year, the number of all-electric cars will surpass the number of gasoline cars in Norway. That’s because the internal combustion engine vehicle fleet is consistently decreasing every year, while the all-electric car fleet is increasing.

The data shows that there were some 775,000 gasoline cars in the country, compared to about 700,000 all-electric ones. Assuming 80,000-100,000 sales in 2024, and a decreasing number of ICE vehicles, EVs soon will outnumber gasoline cars.

However, it might take a few more years until EVs overtake diesel cars, which are still at over one million units.

Norway’s car fleet by fuel type (March 2024):

• Diesel: 1,068,929
• Gasoline: 776,003
• All-electric: 700,358 (24.3% share)
• Hybrid: 339,724 (including almost 200,000 PHEVs)
• Total: 2,885,014

Norwegian EV share is significantly higher than in other countries because electric car sales were high over a long period of more than a decade. This year, the share of all-electric cars is stable at 90% (over 92% when including plug-in hybrids).

However, the recent registration data indicates that the number of car registrations (total and all-electric) is decreasing in Norway. In March, there was almost a 50% drop in total new passenger cars and plug-ins in particular.

Plug-in passenger car registrations last month (YOY change):

• BEVs: 8,709 (down 48%) and 89.3% market share
• PHEVs: 210 (down 75%) and 2.2% market share
• Total: 8,919 (down 49%) and 91.5% market share

In Q1, more than 20,500 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Norway, which represents about 92% of the total car sales.

Plug-in car registrations year-to-date (YOY change):

• BEVs: 20,073 (down 17%) and 90.2% market share
• PHEVs: 451 (down 71%) and 2% market share
• Total: 20,524 (down 20%) and 92.2% market share

For reference, in 12 months of 2023, 114,759 new plug-in electric cars were registered in Norway (90% of the total volume), 25% less than in 2022.

Here is a quick look at the share of passenger car registrations by fuel. In recent months, the only thing that matters is all-electric cars. The best of the rest are non-rechargeable hybrids.

Without incentives for PHEVs, the PHEV segment will be marginalized in 2024.

In terms of the best-selling cars, in Q1 the Tesla Model Y continues to be the number one overall with 4,704 new registrations (20.4% of all car sales). The next two most popular models in the country were the Toyota bZ4X (1,324) and Volkswagen ID.4 (924).