New Delhi. Efforts are being made across the world to reduce dependence on conventional fuels like petrol and diesel, and electric vehicles (EVs) are being considered a better option in this direction. Incentives are being given in many countries to adopt electric vehicles. In India too, the government is providing subsidy on the purchase of electric vehicles, however, their number is still limited in the country.
Meanwhile, Norway has become the first country in the world where the number of electric vehicles has now exceeded that of petrol vehicles. According to the Norwegian Road Federation, out of the 2.8 million private passenger cars registered in the country, 7,54,303 are fully electric, while the number of petrol vehicles is 7,53,905. Registration of diesel vehicles has now reached its lowest. In August 2023, 94.3 percent of the newly registered vehicles were electric vehicles.
How did you achieve this success?
Norway has achieved this success by laying the foundation for its efforts many years ago. Since the early 1990s, the government and citizens there have understood that electric vehicles are part of the future. Norway's parliament set a national goal to make all new cars zero-emission (electric or hydrogen) by 2025. By the end of 2022, more than 20 percent of registered cars will be battery electric, and this year the market share of battery electric vehicles was 79.2 percent.
Awareness about electric vehicles
The awareness of the government and citizens towards electric vehicles has been remarkable in Norway's population of 5.5 million. The government has implemented several new schemes to promote EVs, making the purchase of electric vehicles affordable and convenient.
Favourable tax policies
The biggest change to promote electric vehicles was made in tax policies. The Norwegian government decided to impose higher taxes on high-emission cars and lower taxes on low or zero-emission cars. Under this, electric vehicles up to NOK 500,000 (about Rs 40 lakh) were exempted from VAT, while vehicles priced above this amount were charged 25% VAT only on the additional amount.
other benefits
In addition to VAT and import taxes, electric vehicles were also exempted from toll road charges in Norway from 1997 to 2017. In addition, facilities such as free municipal parking and access to bus lanes attracted people to electric vehicles. In this way, Norway has set a successful model for the adoption of electric vehicles, which can become a source of inspiration for other countries.
Tags: Auto News, Electric Vehicles
FIRST PUBLISHED : September 22, 2024, 17:10 IST