Norway In November: EV Market Share At 80%, Fossils Disappearing

Electric vehicle pioneer Norway saw plugin vehicle market share standing at 80% in November 2020, up from 60% in November 2019. Old school non-hybrid fossil vehicles saw their share decline to just 10.5% (from 27.1% a year ago). The overall auto market volume was up 25% year-on-year.

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November’s combined plugin share (79.93%) consisted of mostly pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs), at 56.1%, with plugin hybrids (PHEVs) at 23.8%.

The share of non-hybrid combustion vehicles, at just 10.5%, was a new record low, beating out the previous 11.1% low seen in September. This was a precipitous fall from the 27.1% share that these vehicles took in November 2019.

The cumulative year-to-date 2020 plugin share now stands at 73%, up from a cumulative 56% by this point in 2019.

Volkswagen ID.3. Image courtesy Volkswagen.

The most popular BEVs for November were the newcomer Volkswagen ID.3, the MG ZS, and the Audi e-tron:

The newly arriving Volvo XC40 Recharge pure electric also put in a good showing in its first proper month of deliveries, at close to 400 units. It’s a competent compact SUV with 419 km (260 miles) WLTP range. This is a different vehicle from the PHEV variant of the XC40 that has been selling up till now.

Volvo XC40 Recharge. Image courtesy Volvo.

As we saw above, 2020 has now accumulated a plugin share of 73% of the auto market in Norway, up strongly again from the 56% at this point last year. The past three months have all seen plugin sales share average just over 80% of the market.

This recent trajectory raises the question: will the speed of Norway’s plugin transition begin to level off at around 90% and then only gradually reach 100% (as some technology adoption curves do), or will it continue quickly through all the way to 99–100%? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this. Please jump in to the comments section below to let me know.