Electric vehicles are now the norm in Norway when it comes to new car sales, accounting for 58% of all car sales in March. Tesla’s mass market Model 3 was especially popular, accounting for nearly 30% of new passenger vehicle sales, the Norwegian Information Council for Road Traffic, or OFV, says.

The figures reflect Norway’s desire to move away from fossil-fuel vehicles — with help from lucrative government incentives for owners of electric vehicles.

Overall, 18,375 new passenger cars were registered in Norway last month, the OFV says. Of those vehicles, 10,732 were rated with zero emissions — a gain of around 100% from the previous March. And nearly all of those vehicles are electric (four are hydrogen-powered).

Norwegian car buyers registered more than 5,300 Tesla Model 3 sedans in March — a record for a single car model in one month, the OFV says. In that same period, no other carmaker had more than 10 percent of sales.

In addition to the all-electric vehicles, 3,469 new hybrid cars were sold, reflecting a 10 percent drop from March 2018.

As Reuters reports, “In 2018, Norway’s fully electric car sales rose to a record 31.2 percent market share from 20.8 percent in 2017, far ahead of any other nation, and buyers had to wait as producers struggled to keep up with demand.”

Norway is well-positioned to reduce carbon emissions by a transition to electric vehicles. For one thing, it draws nearly all of its electricity from a network of hydroelectric power plants, according to its government. Hydroelectric power is cleaner than electricity powered by coal or natural gas.

On average, Norwegians are among the richest people in the world, meaning many of the country’s citizens can afford a new electric car. In the 25-year period from 1992 to 2017, Norway’s Gross National Income per capita more than tripled to nearly $64,000, according to the World Bank. Read more

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