In 2023, the Swedes beat Norway on electric cars
For the first time, the Swedes have beaten Norway in the number of electric cars sold. This pleases Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association.
“When it comes to the electrification of the car fleet, we have no desire to continue with total dominance in the Nordics”
Christina Bu
– It is only good that the Swedes are finally signing up and giving us competition in the electrification of road transport, says Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association. Photo: Jamieson Pothecary
If we look at the share of total sales of passenger cars, Sweden has to settle for third place. Not surprisingly, Norway tops the list, and in second place comes Iceland. Sweden tops the list for EU countries.
If we look at the number of new electric cars that were sold, it is Germany that reigns in Europe followed by Great Britain and France.
There is a new electric car record in Europe of 15.7 percent, up 1.8 percent from 2022
In total, just over 2 million new electric cars were registered for the year as a whole, an increase of some 28 percentage points compared to the previous year.
The figures are taken from the European car industry organization ACEA’s summary of car sales in Europe in 2023 and refer to the countries that are part of the EU, as well as Switzerland, Great Britain, Norway and Iceland.
EU requirements for the car manufacturers control the development
The roll-out of electric cars in the EU is largely influenced by the EU’s requirements for emissions from new passenger cars. The requirements are set at manufacturer level and fines are imposed on car manufacturers who do not meet the requirements. The current requirement is that the cars produced must have an average emission of 95 grams of CO2/km. The fines make it profitable to sell electric cars until the requirement is met. Only in 2035 is the requirement for zero emissions. These requirements are updated every five years and 2023 and 2024 will be intermediate years in the European regulation of emissions.
“We do not expect any major change in the share of electric cars in Norway in 2024, but still hope that national measures and increasingly competitive cars can further increase the share of electric cars”
Christina Bu, Secretary General, Norwegian EV Association