IF the Government and the ‘Greens’ really want to see a motoring majority buy into the idea of actually owning and driving an electric vehicle – they should look at Norway !
In just six months, 1,000 Norwegians have coughed up hard=earned cash to actually buy a Nissan Leaf. That’s about 998 more electric cars’ than anyone has sold in the UK in the past six-years !
And why ? Because unlike our mouthy Gov. the Norwegians have come up with some real incentives for the population to ‘plug-in.’
Incentives like zero VAT, free parking, no car tax, free parking – and thousands of charging places, some of which are even free.
It’s a bit different from the UK’s £5k grant and distances between charging points which are actually greater than the range of the vehicles themselves. In Oslo alone, there are now 3,500 public charging points !
It’s hard to understand why the UK politicians can’t grasp why Britain’s motorists don’t buy into EV. Simply put, your average motorist doesn’t want to spend his hard-earned on a car that depends on a Gov-led infrastructure that just doesn’t exist !
It was the same problem when gas conversion was all the rage. A Gov. grant was available – but nowhere to gas up ! Talk about history repeating itself.
EVs’ are not for everyone. Sales in Norway are very much urban-orientated. Few drivers’ living near the icy tundra will invest. But given an infrastructure and financial incenctives, the Norwegians have achieved real progress.
