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Norway has fallen in love with electric cars
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
Posted: May 12th, 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/29/norway-el...
For three months at the end of 2013, the luxury electric sports car the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf family electric car were the best-selling models among all cars sold in [Norway], beating popular and conventionally-fuelled cars including the VW Golf. The latest figures suggest that over 21,000 all-electric vehicles (EVs) are now registered in the country of 5 million people with sales running at over 1,200 a month, or over 10% of all sales. The Nordic rush for zero-emission vehicles, which have a range of just over 100 miles in the case of the Leaf, is less inspired by concern for the environment than for the chance of free commuting in the bus lane and generous incentives, says the industry. Battery-powered cars in the world's fourth richest country are not just exempt from high rates of purchase tax, and VAT, but pay no road and ferry tolls or parking fees, cost less to insure and can be charged up for free electricity from thousands of points. Local government will also subsidise the installation of charging points in homes. Research suggests the subsidies could be worth nearly 5,000 a year per car. "You can buy a Nissan leaf for 280,000 [Norwegian krone (Nok)] (26,500) which compares with 300,000 (29,400) for a VW Golf. Over 10,000 km, it costs about 1,800 Nok (176) to run, but the same for a petrol car would be 8,000 Nok (784). On top of that I save 35Nok (3.20) a day on tolls but some people are saving far more," says Snorre Sletvold, president of the Norwegian electric vehicle association.
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