Norway to Go Full-Electric Vehicle in 2025, Poised to be EV Leader With Tax Exemption

Norway's ascent to become the world's electric vehicle (EV) market may soon come to its climactic finish. New tax exemptions on EVs until 2020 and a goal to go full-electric in 2025 shows promise.

Electrek reported that Norway has passed an initiative that seeks to keep the VAT exemption for electric vehicles until 2020, one of the many incentives for EV owners in the country. Benefits like these are set to poise Norway as the world's leading EV market, and it doesn't seem to show any signs of stopping.

Norway appears to be just one of the many countries aiming for all new car sales to go electric by 2025. This is in light of its desire to comply with its emission reduction goals. In fact, Norway appears to be one of the very few countries that could ever achieve such a feat.

As of September 2016, 28.8 percent of new car sales in the country have already gone electric, and all-electric cars have 19 percent market shares. This is far more than any other countries.

Given this growth, it may not be hard to imagine reaching 100 percent market share in a few years' time. However, the tax exemption for electric vehicles until 2020 is a very significant part of this equation. After all, this bridges the gap until companies that are into making electric vehicles roll out their new models at more affordable prices.

This includes Tesla's Model 3 or the Chevy Bolt EV, all electric cars that are gaining quite the prominence in the market. Although it appears there was some political opposition to extending the tax exemptions for electric vehicles, as some people see this as a reason for the "rich" to buy Teslas.

While Norway is indeed an important market for Tesla in terms of volume, Norway's Climate Minister Vidar Helgesen highlighted that only 14 percent of the country's electric car fleet are actually Tesla vehicles. Helgesen himself drives a Volkswagen e-Golf. Politics aside, as this is an electric vehicle itself, Norway does appear to be headstrong in its climate change goals.

Norway is in itself already a great example for countries looking into increasing zero-emission vehicle sales. However, it appears Norway is pushing the bar further as it appears to remain vigilant in ending the sale of gas-powered cars in the country by 2025.