Tesla Motors Inc. 's Model S is suddenly the No. 1 car in Norway, where the government is using its oil wealth to smooth the way for battery-powered cars.

The California company's electric sedan, the Model S, vaulted to become the best-selling car in Norway in September, just its second month on the market. Tesla captured 5.1% of Norway's total car sales share during the month. The total number of rechargeable electric cars on the road in Norway is estimated to total 14,500 vehicles. (In all of 2012, auto makers sold just 13,427 electric cars in the larger U.S. market, according to figures compiled by the Electric Drive Transportation Association.)

Advocates of electric vehicles point to Norway as a template for what the rest of the world needs to do to jump-start electric car sales.

But what works in this nation of 5 million people filled with potential buyers made wealthy by a booming gas and oil industry might be a hard sell in other markets.

Policy makers in Norway have exempted electric vehicles from a 25% value added tax and a registration tax that can reach 10s of thousands of dollars a vehicle. Its fuel prices are among the highest in Europe, with a typical liter of petrol costing 15.16 Norwegian kronor, which is roughly equivalent to $9.60 per gallon.