Oslo – the silent city of electric dreams

The streets are littered with electrons, the air is clean and even the passenger boat on the water is majestically quiet on its journey as it glides through the fjord.

Walking through Oslo is an uplifting experience. The occasion of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle is the only thing to break the peace. I liken it to smoking. Whereas once the smell of a cigarette wafting by was a regular, and accepted afront to our senses, it’s now assigned to the ‘socially unacceptable’ box. So too petrol and diesel vehicles in Oslo. They’re the exception rather than the norm.

Norwegian society has embraced zero tailpipe emissions. 84% of new passenger cars are fully electric. All new cars will be zero tailpipe emission by 2025. Norway has demonstrated that strong policies result in change. The removal of the 25% sales tax on cars and increasing the purchase price of ICE vehicles instrumentally served to stimulate the EV market, together with a raft of other incentives like free toll roads and free parking for EVs; plus practical support such as the right to charge in apartment buildings and support for public charging. As the EV market has matured, some of these incentives have now been rolled back, for example VAT now applies to all vehicles above 500,000 NOK, free parking no longer applies to electric cars, and there is no longer government funding for public charging.

Electric cars are, however, exempt from toll ring and congestion pricing, which seems to be a significant driver for zero tailpipe emission vehicles coming into the cities.

I had the pleasure of attending the Nordic EV Summit on behalf of LV= General Insurance and ElectriX last week. It was a fantastic learning and networking experience. I welcomed the opportunity to meet Christina Bu and chelsea sexton , amongst many others who have propelled real change in EV. ?On the vehicle front, I encountered yet more Chinese brands that I’d never come across before (Voyah for example), I has the pleasure of meeting Henrik Fisker of Fisker Ocean fame, and I was fascinated by the Xpeng drone – a two-seater that flies at 300m, has a range of 36km, and is due to be available in some markets for the princely sum of $150k.

The number of charging companies was bewildering – from home charging, on-street charging and ultra-rapid public charging, to workplace and mobile charging solutions. What was missing though, was any sign of truly low-cost solutions for people who cannot charge at home. I’m thinking cable gullies, where a gully is made through the pavement and the EV driver can lay their own charging cable through it, charging their car whilst using their domestic electricity supply (overcoming the issue of 20% VAT on public charging).

I emerged from the Summit newly invigorated and EV-refreshed. No doubt Norway has and will continue to come up against challenges in their mass transition to EV, and whilst they have the benefit of 99% hydropower, I also get the sense that there’s more of a willingness to just get on with it. For example – Norwegians know and accept that range will drop in colder weather, so they just plan an extra charge on longer journeys. It’s no big deal. And it’s clear that there are challenges with public charging roll-out in harder to reach remote areas – but there are concrete plans afoot to address this. And talking of concrete, the speed at which Oslo is switching its construction site traffic to electric is astonishing. Maybe that’s another story…?