NAF warns of charging crisis for electric cars

Electric cars, Charging PointElectric car charging. Photo: pixabay.com

NAF warned of large charging queues for electric cars and believes that Norway needs 1,400 new fast chargers of 50 kilowatts or more already this year.

‘’Now people do as politicians say. Then the politicians must follow up and make it safe and predictable to use electric cars’’ said communications manager, Camilla Ryste, of NAF to VG newspaper. She told of a sharp increase in the number of electric cars sold in the past six months. Almost six out of ten new cars bought in March were electric.

NAF used the political goal of selling only zero emission cars by 2025 as a basis for its claim, which means that in six years there will be 1.1 million electric cars on the roads in Norway.

In total, the organization believes that 5,000 new fast loading points must be set up between the cities by that time. NAF received support from the Electric Car Association about the charging crisis, but the latter believes the figure is too low, and in a new report estimated that the need for new chargers is between 8,000 and 11,000.

State Secretary, Allan Ellingsen of Fremskrittsparti (FRP) and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, told VG newspaper that the government’s policy has helped to make Norway a pioneer for phasing in an electric car parking system, but pointed out that charging electric cars is not a public responsibility.

‘’But we will continue to contribute instruments’’ he said.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today