Norway set a new record in August for the share of electric vehicles among new passenger cars. Of the 13,451 registered vehicles, 98.7% were fully electric. A year earlier, the figure was 96.9%, and since the beginning of 2026, it has already reached 97.8%.
Essentially, the country's new passenger car market has almost completely transitioned to electric propulsion. At the same time, Norway does not prohibit the registration of new cars with gasoline or diesel engines. People have simply almost stopped buying them. The average CO₂ emissions for new cars in the country are now around 3 g/km.
However, the situation is noticeably different in the commercial van segment. In August, 3,139 new vans were registered in Norway, and the share of electric vehicles was 44.9%. However, since the beginning of the year, electric vehicles already account for 53.1% of this market.
Moreover, the second half of August showed how strongly taxes influence business choices. The share of diesel vans increased from 36.3% in the first half of the month to 56.1% in the second. The reason is a change in tax rules from September 1: the CO₂ component of the registration fee for ICE vans increased, with some models seeing an increase of up to 15,000 Norwegian kroner, or approximately 1,300 euros. Therefore, some buyers may have simply accelerated the registration of diesel vehicles to avoid paying more.
At the same time, the passenger car market itself decreased by 3.4% in August. The main reason was Tesla: the brand registered 2,387 fewer cars than a year earlier. If Tesla were excluded from the statistics, the market would have grown by 17%. Volkswagen became the most popular brand of the month, and among individual models, the ID.4 led. Toyota bZ4X and BMW iX3 followed.