Raja believes Norwegians are being fooled by electric car numbers

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

Venstre’s Abid Raja thinks Norwegians are being fooled by the electric car figures and says the truth is that there are surprisingly few electric cars in Norway.

In March, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration could say that more than half of the newly registered cars in this country are electric. But Raja thinks one should not look blindly at the positive figures.

‘’I fear that such figures will give weight to those who believe it is soon time to scale down electric car schemes. I would strongly warn against that’’ he told VG newspaper.

92% do not have electric cars

He and Venstre have obtained figures from the Directorate of Public Roads and Nobil, which show that 92% of the population do not have an electric car.

‘’The overview clearly shows that Norway has not ridden the electric car wave’’ said the Venstre politician.

The findings show that there are 216,311 electric cars in Norway, which account for 7.9% of the car fleet of 2.73 million. Hordaland has the most electric cars with 17.7%, followed by Oslo with 13.6 and Akershus with 12.9.

At the bottom of the list is Finnmark, where only 0.8% of the inhabitants have electric cars, followed by Troms with a share of 2.4%.

According to Raja, the overview also shows that in large cities with many electric cars, there are too few charging points. At the same time, he called for many more charging stations to lure the districts.

Build chargers in the North

The same day that Raja called for charging stations, Enova told Nationen newspaper that these days a competition is being launched for area developments of charging infrastructure for electric cars. In the first call for proposals, Enova will for the first time support a combination of lighter and fast chargers in Finnmark and Nord-Troms.

‘’The electric car must become a real alternative for more people, both
for households and businesses. For many, access to fast charging plays an important role. With this support offer, we will help to create a sustainable charging market, so that in the long term it will be profitable to develop fast chargers also in areas where there is still a need for public support’’ said CEO, Nils Kristian Nakstad.

In the first round, Enova supports the construction of 17 lighters and 35 fast chargers in 26 locations in the two northernmost counties.

“Today there are a few fast chargers and no lighters in this region, so this will be a significant boost for the electric car initiative in the north” said Nakstad.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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