<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/norway-gm-electric-cars-morten-harket/>
"The annual Monday morning quarterbacking has begun: Which of
yesterday’s Super Bowl commercials deserve a victory dance in the
endzone? A frontrunner is already emerging: the General Motors ad in
which Will Ferrell, Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina vow that the U.S. will
soon vanquish Norway as the electric vehicle capital of the world.
The message of the ad is clear: It’s on. Two weeks ago, GM stunned the
auto world by announcing it will phase out all of its fossil
fuel-powered cars and trucks by 2035. The commitment builds on a raft of
proposals from President Biden to promote EVs, from flooding the country
with charging stations to electrifying the federal vehicle fleet.
But dislodging Norway from its perch atop the EV pedestal won’t be easy.
For the past three decades, the oil-producing nation has been quietly
transforming into a place where electric vehicles are simply the status quo.
The statistics are astounding. Over half of all cars sold in Norway in
2020 were fully electric. Include plug-in hybrids in the mix, and that
figure approaches 90 percent. Only 8.6 percent of vehicles now sold in
Norway are fully diesel-powered. And it’s the world’s only country where
an EV — the Nissan Leaf — is the top-selling car.
The picture is all the more impressive when you consider that, only a
decade ago, electric vehicles were virtually nonexistent in Norway,
making up a mere one percent of the total market. How the Nordic nation
became home to the most EVs per capita in such a short time is a story
of powerful incentives, political will and a passionate ‘80s pop band."
Muse and I drive a second-hand Nissan Leaf. Even with no Australian
government assistance it pays for itself with fuel and service savings,
plus it’s green, healthy, quiet and handles really well. And the battery
is always full in the morning, so we never have to stop and “fill up”.
Australia currently only has 20,000 EVs total and 0.7% of new car sales,
so we have a long way to go to catch up with the US, let alone Norway.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
