Why Norway is an EV road trip paradise
Road-tripping an electric car still comes with a dash of range anxiety in many parts of the world. But not in Norway where the EV has been embraced. The country’s marvellous mountain roads and fabulous fjords can all be explored on an emissions and guilt-free road trip.
Norway’s electric ethos
In 2020 more than 50 percent of new cars were electric. The government has been incentivising EV buyers since 1990 – long before the likes of Tesla started making truly useable electric cars. EV drivers are exempt from paying 25 percent VAT, get free parking in many places and can even drive in city bus lanes. From 2025 only electric vehicles will be sold.
There are more than 16,000 charging points in Norway and a fifth of these are rapid chargers, with the number growing, er, rapidly. Norway added 1,000 fast chargers in 2020 and range anxiety simply isn’t an issue. There’s even a charger at Honnigsvag, the northernmost town in mainland Europe, allowing EV drivers to reach Nordkapp with ease.
Guilt-free driving
There’s still debate about just how green electric cars really are compared to the latest combustion cars, with argument coming down to how the electricity to charge them is generated. In countries where fossil fuels are burnt to power the grid then the carbon footprint of an electric car doesn’t look so good. Norway has the perfect counter punch, with almost the entire country’s electricity coming from renewables. An amazing 93.4 percent of Norway’s needs are provided by hydro power with wind power providing a further 4.1 percent. That leaves just over two percent of the country’s energy being produced from its ample oil and gas reserves (which it exports instead). This clean energy also comes cheap, making EVs much less expensive to run than petrol or diesel cars.
Amazing roads and spectacular scenery
Whether you’re seeking a gentle coastal cruise or a more dynamic drive in the mountains Norway’s roads are a delight. Outside of Oslo you’ll find traffic is generally quite light as it’s a big country with a small population, but the motorway network is limited to the area around the capital and as you get further away the pace slows somewhat. That just gives more time to enjoy the spectacle.
Detour’s favourite drives include the Lysebotn Road with its 27 hairpins, the rollercoaster ride over the bridges of the Atlantic Ocean Road, the twists and turns of the Trollstigen and the amazing engineering of the Laerdal Tunnel - the longest in the world.
When to go
Winter driving in Norway is easy enough if you’re prepared, but electric cars do have a reduced range when the temperature drops so we’d recommend late Spring or Summer. The mountain roads will be open, the fjords will be warmer and the days are longer – in fact they never end in the land of the Midnight Sun.