Dive Brief:
- Electrek.co reports Norway has passed an initiative to maintain its 25% tax exemption on electric vehicle purchases until 2020, possibly helping it reach 100% EV drivership within a decade.
- The site reports Norway's new-car sales are now almost 30% plug-in electric, the global leader in EV adoption.
- In the United States, President Obama set a goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by the end of last year, but the numbers fell far short. California leads the nation on EV adoption and wants to reach 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
Dive Insight:
A trend to electrify the transportation sector has begun to snowball ever since it outpaced the power sector in carbon emissions this year. Norway is one of a handful of European countries with 100% electrification goal for its transportation sector, but some say is likely unrealistic in the United States.
Avista's Rendall Farley, EV program manager for Avista says "I don't think that will happen in the United State." Though ultimately he says EVs are "just better. They’re cleaner, faster, save money and they’re more reliable. It’s a more elegant, simpler design. I see a future, in a few years, where EVs not only compete but out-compete with gasoline vehicles."
Farley has said he expects that by 2040 there could be 20% EVs on the road, but it could also be as low as 4%. The utility, which serves 340,000 electric customers in Idaho and eastern Washington, this summer began rollout of a charging program targeting 272 port installations over the next two years. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates 35% of new vehicle sales will be EVs by 2040.
California, which leads the nation in EV adoption, has made recent changes to its electric vehicle rebate program, eliminating incentives for higher-income buyers and boosting them for those making up to 300% of the federal poverty level. The shift reflects the state's attempts to interest a broader range of consumers in EVs.
