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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/norway-electric-car-charging-points-infrastructure/>
"When Trondheim-based Magnus Korpås bought his first electric car in 2019, he
settled on a Tesla—the model of car that offered the most charging stations
available to him at the time. However, in just a few years, Norway built out
its charging infrastructure so quickly that no matter what type of electric
vehicle (EV) you choose, there’s virtually always a charging point nearby.
“In Norway, we’re quite used to electric vehicles. This is the common car now,”
says the professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “You
diverge from the standard if you buy something else, really.”
For the past three decades, Norway has doggedly endeavored to electrify its
vehicle fleet, using a mix of infrastructure investments, subsidies and
regulations to nudge people into electric cars. The results have been
remarkable: 20% of cars on the road are EVs, and Norway was the first country
in the world to see EV car sales begin to outpace fossil fuel car sales. Today,
80% of new cars sold in Norway are electric.
By comparison, the U.S. is woefully lagging. It is estimated that less than 1%
of cars on U.S. roads are electric, and while EV sales are rapidly growing
stateside, they still account for just under 5% of new cars sold in the
country. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is meant to help speed the
transition from fossil fuel cars to EVs as part of a bid to reduce the
country’s greenhouse gas emissions, about 27% of which are attributable to
transportation.
While the IRA is designed to promote EV uptake through purchase subsidies, it
simultaneously aims to vastly expand the U.S.’s EV charging network. Range
anxiety, concern that a car will run out of charge while out on the road, is a
significant factor keeping Americans from buying EVs. While many climate
advocates argue that reducing transportation emissions requires strengthening
public transit options and making cities more bikeable and walkable, promoting
EV adoption is the fix most prominent in the IRA."
Cheers,
*** 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