Norway Wants To Ban The Sale Of All New Petrol And Diesel Cars By 2025
“That’s a bit drastic,” some of you probably thought, when it was announced that the city of Paris was to ban all cars built before 2010 from its centre by 2020. However, that all seems pretty minor in comparison to what the Norwegian government is cooking up. According to Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, the country’s government is considering banning the sale of any new petrol or diesel powered car by 2025.
Almost a quarter of all new car sales in Norway are made up of electric vehicles, but to forcibly bring that up to 100 per cent would be an extraordinary move, and an interesting one given that the country’s economy relies heavily on the exportation of oil. It won’t just be diesel and petrol cars getting the boot, either: the plans also cover light commercial vehicles and busses.
It’s important to note this isn’t definite just yet; while the proposed law has been put forward, it hasn’t yet been passed. We’ll be watching this with interest.
What do you think of the proposals? We’re keen to hear your views, particularly if you’re a Norwegian petrolhead!
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
And so illegal petrol/diesel smuggling begins…
Yeah, and electricity is so much cleaner? Just another law made by people who don’t know anything about the subject. I love Norway but that’s just completely idiotic. And I don’t think that because I like cars, I think that because I’m learning about this stuff at college. There’s no sustainable future in electric cars. All the things an electric car needs to work, like batteries, or hydrogen fuel cells, rely on scarce materials. You just can’t build a future on it, because quite soon these materials will start running out and getting even more expensive than they already are, making it impossible to use it in the building of cars.
Ideally we will use electricity to turn water into hydrogen, which we will then use to power an internal combustion engine. No scarce materials are used in an internal combustion engine, just steel and aluminium.
Tbh, steel and aluminium are limited as well.. I see where you’re coming from, but the point is, if the manufacturers are not forced to develop new technologies, they never will.. It is way cheaper to produce a car with the same technologies we’ve been using for almost 130 years now. Also, manufacturers in general don’t give a sh*t about the environment, just about their money. They wouldn’t research in new technologies if the didn’t have to. And with this bill, Norway forces them to do so.
I’m embarrassed of my country…..
It is actually ok, since I could not care less about new cars
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The second drawback for EVs are the cost. Yes, I know, EVs are way cheaper in Norway compared to the rest of the world, and yes, there are Teslas literally everywhere. However, that does not mean they’re cheap. A brand new Tesla Model S 70D with a decent amount of options will cost 750 000 nok, or around 63 000 pounds. That is quite a lot for a car, especially the basic version of one. The same problem applies to the Model X, and it will most likely appear on the Model 3, too. And, at this current moment of time, the Model S is the only full-size EV family car on the market. In other words, unless more EV family cars pop up on the market, electric vehicles will simply be too expensive to some people.
Then there is the third issue. Range. Apart from the Teslas, no EVs have a particularly impressive range. And then there is the problem with winter. As you may know, Norway has some seriously cold winters, and EVs simply do not work as efficiently as their petrol and diesel counterparts. As an example, a test conducted demonstrated this. In normal weather, a VW E-Golf did 200 km. When winter came, it did 100 km. That is simply not good enough. A Tesla did better, getting 300 km from its claimed 500 km range. But again, it is simply not good enough. Many people need to travel further than that in the cold climate.
In summary, there needs to be a lot of change before the government can implement this rule. First of all, the amount of EVs need to explode. There has to be more EV SUVs and STWs. Secondly, prices have to go down even further. As said, Teslas are currently the only suitable family cars on the market, and they aren’t cheap. Thirdly, the climate needs to change drastically. With such cold winters, Petrol and diesels will simply work better than all-electric vehicles. So, if global warming continues on, manufacturers make even more EVs and the Norwegian politicians make up their mind, then this ban might actually work. But it won’t happen within 9 years. I promise.
If, however, I’m mistaken, and the ban is put in place, then I’m leaving the country at a moment’s notice.
I live in Norway, and at this current moment of time, I see no way that Norway will only have EVs within 9 years.
There are several factors as to why, including Norway exporting such a large amount of oil, as stated in the article. However, the most important one is the people. The ones who actually buy the cars.
First of all, there are some car types that Norwegians simply cannot get enough of. One of those is electric cars, but there are others as well. The main ones are SUVs and station wagons. Car like the Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, Audi A6 and VW Passat are some of the most popular cars found on the roads, and more or less everyone wants an SUV or STW at the moment.
I’ll start with SUVs. At this current moment of time, there is only one electric SUV on the market. That is the Tesla Model X. It is a great car, with cool styling and much power, and i have a lot of respect for it. However, there is one HUGE drawback. The falcon doors. They look awesome and has interesting technology behind them. However, Norwegians love to go skiing. For that, we need a ski box on the roof to transport our skis. That is simply not possible in the Model X. Tesla’s own solution won’t work either. Therefore, unless several more manufacturers bring out SUVs without fancy doors, there won’t be any SUVs for most people, and then there can’t be a ban. SUVs are simply to popular for that.
Next up are station wagons. At this moment, there are, ehm, none electric station wagons on the market. And there are no known plans to produce one, either. Moving on.
:(