Norway Says More Than 50% of New Cars Are Electric

A report released Tuesday says Norway has become the first country in the world in which 50 percent of all new cars it sold are electric.Norway’s Road Traffic Information Council (Opplysningsradet for Veitrafikken) says electric vehicles accounted for 54.3 percent of new car sales in 2020, up from 42.4 percent a year earlier.The group says the four best-selling models in the Nordic country were the Volkswagen/ Audi e-tron, the Tesla Model 3, the Volkswagen ID.3 and the Nissan Leaf — all fully electric.The fifth placed car — the Volkswagen Golf — can be bought in a rechargeable version but the statistics do not differentiate among engine types.The report says electric cars accounted for 66.7 percent of all new sales in Norway during December, a new monthly record.Norway set a goal of eliminating combustion-engine vehicles by 2025 and fully electric vehicles are tax exempt and receive other government subsidies. The nation gets most of its electric energy from hydroelectric dams.   
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