Electric car sales in Norway took a 94 percent market share in August. Statistics show that this is a new world record, while sales in the rest of Europe are stagnant, reported AFP.
Spurred by Tesla's Model Y, which accounted for 18.8% of sales, and to a lesser extent by Hyundai's Kona and Nissan's Leaf, electric cars made up 94.3% of new car registrations, the Norwegian Road Federation said.
Norwegians bought 10,480 new electric cars in August, or a total of 68,435 since the beginning of the year.
Elsewhere in Europe, high prices and poor infrastructure have hampered sales of electric cars, while sales of hybrid models, which combine fossil fuel engines and electric batteries, have risen.
The Scandinavian country, a major oil and gas producer, has set itself the goal of selling only zero-emission cars by 2025. That's 10 years ahead of the deadline set at EU level.
The country offers generous tax breaks, making electric cars competitively priced.
“No country in the world comes close to Norway in the EV race. If this trend continues, we will soon be on track to reach our goal of 100% zero-emission cars by 2025," said Norwegian Road Federation Director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen.
In comparison, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, electric cars accounted for 12.1% of new car sales in the EU in July, behind petrol cars at 33.4%, hybrids at 32% and diesels at 12.6 %. | BGNES