In the paradise of electric cars, Norway, a car dealership refuses to help its customers buy a gasoline car. The director thinks that would be wrong.
New petrol cars may soon be a thing of the past in Norway. The same applies to diesel cars. Some car dealers have already dropped the sale of petrol cars.
At one of the country's largest car importers, Harald A Moller, they believe outright that it is wrong to guide customers to purchase a gasoline car.
The future is electric, says the CEO in an interview with the BBC.
Despite Norway's cold climate, which reduces the range of electric cars, Norwegians are increasingly choosing electric cars.
The reason is that the country's government is holding on to the massive state support that, among other things, keeps the vast majority of electric cars tax-free. In addition, the government has just applied for permission to exempt the cars from another tax. Read more about it here .
This includes longer range, faster charging and no taxes on electric cars. But it's not just about economics, explains Ulf Tore Hekneby.
"We think it is wrong to advise a customer who comes here today to buy a car with a combustion engine. The future is electric," says Harald A Moller CEO Ulf Tore Hekneby to the BBC.
He points out that the number of charging stations in Norway is high. It is easy to charge your car, no matter where you are in the country.
Sales of electric cars have also increased sharply in recent years. By 2023, electric cars accounted for 82 percent of new car sales.
In 2024, this figure increased to 88.9 percent, according to figures from the Norwegian Road Association. However, the Norwegian Road Association had to retract some figures about gasoline cars last year.
The organization believed that electric cars had already overtaken the number of gasoline cars in the north. However, this turned out to be a lie.
Conversely, electric cars are also gaining momentum in Denmark. By the end of 2024, 61.5 percent of newly registered cars were electric.
For the whole of 2024, the figure was also high. Here, 51 percent of passenger cars sold were electric cars (during the year, ed.) powered exclusively by electricity.
An analysis from Mobility Denmark shows that one million electric cars are expected on Danish roads in 2028. But this is conditional on politicians keeping the current tax level unchanged.
However, the latest figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, ACEA, also show that electric cars have not caught on with European car buyers in general.
In January 2024, just 1.8 percent of all cars in Europe were electric. And if you add hybrids on top of that, the figure is still below 4 percent.
