tristan_shale-hester@autovia.co.uk
@tristan_shale
THERE’S no avoiding the fact that the switch to electric vehicles brings a few changes with it. EVs still have significantly higher list prices than their petrol and diesel counterparts, and there are further challenges around market share and charging infrastructure.
Readers of Auto Express will be well aware of the constant effort from both the Government and industry to improve the viability of EVs in the UK. Currently, only around 14 per cent of new cars sold and around two per cent of cars on the road in the UK are fully electric.
When it comes to EV adoption, there’s one country that shines brighter than all others: Norway. More than three quarters of new cars sold there each year are electric, with EVs making up around a quarter of the country’s total car fleet, and it’s a figure that’s rising.
We need to find out what they’ve got right and we’ve got wrong – as well as if there’s anything we’re doing better than them – so we’ve hopped over the North Sea to see what we can learn from the Norwegians.
LEG 1: BERGEN TO SKEI
OUR point of arrival in Norway is Bergen, the country’s second-largest city. Even as we walk through the airport and look out of the window at a nearby car park, we notice a high proportion of EVs in the mix – many more than you would typically see in a similar setting in the UK.
The other thing that is immediately apparent as we are collected from the airport and take our first look at the surrounding area and roads is how modern and well maintained everything is. We British tend to be fairly self-deprecating when it
