Electric vehicles in Norway and in the Oslo region Erik Figenbaum

1993/ Nationwide – About 65 EVs – 10 charging stations – Tens of EVs sold Oslo region – 40 EVs – 10 charging stations Nationwide 1.quarter – About vehicles – 4000 charging stations, – 127 fast charge stations – 4000 EVs sold 2012 Oslo region – 5000 EVs – 1750 charging stations, – 45 fast charging stations

So how did this come about?

Up to 2000 – preparation and imports Vehicle registration tax exemption from 1991/1995 Free parking introduced 1999 Some imports of Kewets from Denmark and eventually a factory with all tools and IP rights Think in development phase, bankruptsy, rebirth and new life as a Ford US subsidiary Stavanger gaining traction, linking to Peugeot getting a deal on deliveries of EVs to Stavanger area, lobbying to get EVS24 to Stavanger in 2009 In 2000: only 383 EVs in national fleet

From 2000 a bumpy ride but gaining traction Access to bus- lanes in test area VAT exemption introduced Permanent access to bus lanes, minibus no longer allowed, Free ferries Mitsubishi I- Miev launch Nissan Leaf launch Reduced annual tax VAT exemption decided Transnovas charging station program Ford pulls out of Think Think bankrupt Think launches new model New Buddy launched by Pure mobility Think bankrupt Pure mobility bankrupt Ford launches Thinks first model Kewet Buddy launched by ElbilNorge Think production moved to Finland First fast chargers French EVs 1. gen sold by norwegian importeurs Second hand imports of french EVs REVA EV launched EVS 24 in Stavanger 1500 del. Source: OFV/Grønn bil

Sales Nissan expanding nationwide Mitsubishi delivering backlog of pre-orders Nissan Leaf launch Mitsubishi, Citroen, Peugeot price reductions Source OFV

Modelsplit sales Source: OFV

Development of national EV fleet Base of around 3000 devoted EV drivers when the big automakers launched cars in 2010 A survey of EV owners in 2006 showed that they identify themselves as EV drivers

1. gen up to gen from 2010 Small independent producers, uncertainty No warranty No safety rating Think NOK Few dealers Buyers traded comfort and safety for access to buslanes and free tolls Established automakers and importers 5 year/ km warr. 4/5 star EuroNcap rating Mitsubishi price NOK Mitsubishi 04/ NOK Nissan Leaf 07/ NOK

Geographical spread of EVs Source: Grønn bil/OFV

EVs in norwegian media Media focus started 2-3 years before car- manufacturers launched cars Source: Retriever

Access to parking at the household Private households No cars1 car2 or more cars Total The household have a garage or carport % % % The household does not have a garage or carport, but have a reserved parking place % % % The household have no parking facilitites % Total % % % or more cars and parking facilities at home: 23% 1 or more cars and parking facilities at home: 65% Households with parking facilities at home: 83% Source: SSB 2001 Likely more multicar households today

EVs - a rational choice Price on par or cheaper than gasoline car Low user costs thanks to high fuel taxes User benefits of great value if you use them Many multicar households with garage/carport Positive image Good cars have arrived in the showrooms  A very competitive free market

Marketing creativity

Who are the buyers? Belongs to a multi car household Belongs to households with more people Drives as much as other multi car households Younger than buyers of regular cars More inclined to be well educated and in the work force The new vehicles bought from 2012 are used as much as comparable gasoline cars (2013 NTNU survey) Earlier EVs had lower annual mileage (ECON 2006 survey) A few buy it as their single car and they have reduced annual mileage compared to other single car housholds

For which trips are the vehicles used? Source: Klöckner et al, NTNU

The power of incentives… Bus lane access switch from minibus to EVs in test areas had immediate effect on sales: Source: Vista Analyse AS 2011

Ranking of incentives 1.VAT exemption – cuts vehicle price 25% 2.Access to bus lanes – Vaining importance as vehicle sales spread to regions with few bus-lanes 3.Toll road exemption 4.Reduced annual tax 5.Free parking 6.Expansion of charging stations Runner up: Reduced company car benefit tax Early days: Exemption from tax on vehicle registration

How did EVs get all these incentives? 1990s: Removing disincentives to get testing going, local initiatives on free parking, toll road exemption created bottom-up push on government, energy industry involv. 2000s: The dream of an EV industry, needed a strong homemarket to thrive 2010s: Climate policy, increasingly important part of transportation sector efforts, NGOs, car importers push Always one more incentive needed, New pressure groups joined the party along the way

But most important of all… It is much easier to NOT collect a tax than to collect taxes and then HAND OUT a subsidy Electric cars was a managable fleet size for access to bus lanes at the time it was decided

The unfortunate cousin Plug-in hybrids have few incentives They come well out of the registration tax VAT makes the cars extra expensive No local benefits  Very slow sales, (about 500 in fleet) but needed to reach national goals

National targets – Passenger cars

Safety - fires Fires related to illegal modifications Sources:

Safety - accidents Source Source

Learning points EVs a rational choice for consumers Most buyers are private citizens EVs bought as secondary vehicles, being used as primary Buyers use the cars a lot and are more car-use inclined – EVs winter range - worst case half of official Cold temperature slows fast charging to half speed Owners illegally upgrade/modify old cars Lot of knowledge and EV-entusiasm built-up in the slow market growth up to 2010, ready for the good EVs

Outlook Economic incentives freezed through 2017 User benefits may change in cooperation with local authoritites Many new models arriving – Waiting list for Tesla Sedan S – Volkswagen, Norways biggest brand, launching cars 2013 and 2014 – BMW, Ford and others coming up