ELECTRIC cars made up nearly two thirds of Norway’s new auto sales in 2021, with Tesla the top selling automobile brand overall, as the country pursues its goal of becoming the first to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars.

While Norway, with a population of 5.4 million, has the world’s highest proportion of electric vehicles (EVs).

Oil-producing Norway has encouraged the switch to zero emission cars by exempting battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from taxes imposed on internal combustion engines (ICE).

This tax break is expected to help drive the proportion of overall electric sales as high as 80 percent in 2022, ahead of a deadline to end petrol and diesel powered car sales by 2025.

Overall new sales in Norway rose by 25 percent in 2021 to a record 176,276 cars, of which 65 percent were fully electric. This market share was up from 54 percent in 2020.

Norway is seen as a key market in which to gain a foothold for new BEV players, including China’s Nio and Swedish Volvo Cars affiliate Polestar.

Tesla had an 11.6 percent share of Norway’s overall car market in 2021, making it the No. 1 brand for the first time on a full-year basis ahead of Germany’s Volkswagen with 9.6 percent, the Norwegian Road Federation (NRF) said Monday.

Industry representatives said they expect EV sales to grow to as much as 80 percent of the total market in Norway in 2022, although supply chain problems could put the brakes on this.

“We believe we will exceed 80 percent electric cars next year,” said Christina Bu who heads the Norwegian EV Association.

Chinese EV makers have been looking to push up exports. Nio launched lavish showrooms in central Oslo in 2021, its first overseas, aiming to sell its ES8 sport utility vehicles and ET7 sedans as part of plans to expand globally. (SD-Agencies)