During the Latin American Electric Mobility Congress Costa Rica 2024, Helene Sommerset Busengdal, Project Co-Lead and International Adviser at Norsk elbilforening (Norwegian EV Association), shared insights on how the country is advancing its eMobility transition and the next steps.
Firstly, it’s essential to understand why eMobility is progressing so well there: subsidies and tax reductions play a key role.
“Most people don’t choose their mode of transport based on global awareness, commitment, or technological fascination, but rather based on their finances,” explains Busengdal.
These findings were confirmed by the association through an annual survey conducted with 15,000 people.
“Respondents consider low cost to be the most important factor when choosing to drive an electric vehicle (EV). This has been beneficial thanks to our policies,” she states.
As a result, a quarter of Norway’s passenger car fleet is now fully electric.
As for buses, light, and heavy vehicles, while the process is “a little slower,” these sectors are also being electrified.
“We know that this transition is contagious,” Busengdal acknowledges.
That’s why, far from focusing solely on land vehicles, Norway is paying particular attention to waterborne transport.
The fact is, 2.7% of the country’s total emissions come from domestic waterborne transport.
“It’s important to understand the context to grasp why it’s crucial to make the transition in all modes of transport,” comments the international adviser.
Norway has set itself the goal of reducing its emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030.
“For passenger cars, emissions are beginning to decrease, due to the transition to EVs in the new car market and, to some extent, the use of biofuels,” she acknowledges.
Between 1990 and 2022, emissions in this segment were reduced by 20%. However, for other light and heavy vehicles, progress has not been as strong.
In this regard, Busengdal acknowledges: “To achieve a 55% reduction by 2030, we need a 7% annual decrease in emissions in the passenger car segment and a 17% reduction annually in the other two segments.”
“It will be a major challenge, but we are on the right track and will continue working to achieve it,” she adds.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that from January 2025, no more fossil-fuel cars should be sold in Norway.
“Let’s hope we reach this target,” she emphasises.
And she continues, “At the Nordic EV Summit in April, we’ll take stock and look forward to continuing the discussions.”
How to incentivise the electrification of waterborne transport in Norway?
“It’s actually quite easy to plan compared to other modes of transport,” acknowledges Busengdal.
In this segment, the exact distance each vessel must travel and the exact number of units that need to be converted to electric can be determined.
It’s worth noting that the transition began on a national level through the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, responsible for 16 of the largest ferry connections.
“They announced that they wanted their procurement processes to have low or zero emissions for these connections,” she explains.
In this regard, several cities began to follow suit and introduced public procurement processes with the same requirements.
“Now, parliament has decided that by 2025, it will be a national rule that all public procurement processes for waterborne ferries must have zero emissions,” Busengdal affirms.
There is no doubt that electrifying this segment will bring multiple opportunities.
“There will be a need for different battery sizes, varying charging power levels, and some connections may be better suited for hydrogen,” notes the international adviser.
For instance, in Oslo in 2025, an express ferry will operate on a highly trafficked route.
“This vessel needs power to travel at high speed but can’t be overloaded with very large batteries or too many of them,” comments Busengdal.
She adds, “Therefore, the company SHIFTR developed a battery-swapping solution that will be installed at the dock.”
It’s also worth mentioning that currently, 39% of ferry connections and 11% of passenger boat connections in Norway are already electric.
Additionally, out of the 192 ferries available in the country, 40% are electric, and among the 125 passenger boats, 17% are electric.
“In waterborne transport, the development has been quite fast because there are fewer vessels to electrify. So, 31% of the total fleet is already electric,” details Busengdal.
