Live here. My brother-in-law just bought the Leaf. From the people I talk to it is always the same reasons:
* price (leaf, vw etc)
and/or
* love Tesla: compared to any other new 400+ hp luxury car the Tesla is a steal for the moment both because of buying price (around 600' NOK for the entry level Model S is cheap compared to any other new sports car around here.)
and/or
* being allowed to drive in the bus lane
On top of this you save fuel, toll roads, park for free in a lot of places, get free ferry tickets etc etc. My former neighbours who drive for 40 minutes to and from work said not buying the Leaf would be failing basic math.
Edit: and lets not forget being allowed to drive in the bus lane.
The following incentives from the article seem key.
- No purchase taxes
- Exemption from 25% VAT on purchase
- Low annual road tax
- No charges on toll roads or ferries
- Free municipal parking
- Access to bus lanes
- 50% reduction in company car tax
- No VAT on leasing
One very small part of the arctic circle. That title is appropriate once electric cars are popular in the northern regions of canada and russia, who are by far the largest occupiers of the arctic.
Some data: It looks like the leaf's range is basically halved in cold weather. That, and the greater distances between everything in the true north, says to me that they are a long way from adoption.
Fyi, running the heater on a gas-powered car does nothing to the range. That heat comes from engine coolant. You are doing the engine a favor, something to remember if your engine is overheating.
I'm not sure where you get that from. I suppose you mean that there are areas in Canada that are as cold, and have a larger population - but not, as far as I know, as far north:
"The largest communities north of the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia and Norway: Murmansk (population 307,257), Norilsk (175,365), Tromsø (71,295) and Vorkuta (70,548). Rovaniemi (61,329) in Finland is the largest settlement in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic Circle lying slightly south of the line.
In contrast, the largest North American community north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut (Greenland), has approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Of the Canadian and United States Arctic communities, Barrow, Alaska is the largest settlement with about 4,000 inhabitants."
Tromsø has a relatively mild climate (record cold temperature in winter is ~ -18C, "usual" coldest days of January and February are around -10C). The north of Finland is much colder in winter due to being away from the warm ocean currents, as is inland Norway.
(Source: I grew up in Tromsø, and worked for a while as a city guide before I moved south to Bergen)
It's telling that when Volvo made an electric car prototype (the C30 Electric), they gave it a separate ethanol heater to handle the Swedish weather conditions...
Electrical cars will never be popular in Russia, at least in the most parts. You have to drive at -40 temperature; you have to drive 500-1000km in one day; and not only drive, but keep warm temperature inside for passengers (not every day, but your car must be able to do that sometimes). You don't have enough money to buy many cars for different tasks, gasoline is extremely cheap (compared to Europe) and not much people care about ecology. Electric cars just don't suited for that.
They might become popular in Moscow and other huge cities with warm climate, short distances and rich people.
Yes, a lot of incentives. But another important point is that they make some sense, due to the pervasiveness of renewable hydroelectric power in Norway. Being an oil producing country, we could have gone the other way, and just subsidized gasoline prices instead.
The oil age is ending in Norway. It's considered a fact of life.
You all have heard of the petroleum fund. That money is going towards pensions. Of course it's easier to buy an electric car if you're used to thinkinf of the oil age that something that ends within your own working life.
I wonder how well EV's cope with arctic conditions. In areas near the ocean temperatures generally don't get too extreme (e.g. Anchorage), but inland they can easily get into ranges that must be challenging for batteries to cope with.
To mitigate issues with cold weather, 2nd generation Nissan Leaf battery packs with the 'cold weather package' include a 'battery warmer' between banks. This is controlled via the BMS which was already monitoring temperature with some thermistors. It's a resistive element like that used in heated seats or an electric blanket.
The Tesla battery is a liquid cooled battery and thus can be warmed via coolant that is heated by the inductive heater for the HVAC. Same for the GM Volt/Bolt.
Anecdotal, but I was speaking with a friend from Norway about 18 months ago, and he mentioned how you see Teslas everywhere because they are heavily subsidized and gas is ridiculously expensive. However, he said everyone also has a winter car, a Subaru or similar, because the electric range is so severely limited by the cold.
It's most watched vlog about Tesla S by someone who lives in Norway. He used to live in Oslo but also lived in the very far northern part of Norway. He offers very detailed reviews of Tesla. Beautiful winter scenery of Norway is a bonus.
Norway is applying "the polluter pays" principle. A gas car has a lot of pollution therefore a lot of paying. Electric cars - not so much pollution, not so much paying.
If you travel to Norway, you see they have sea, mountains, and water, which means very cheap electric energy.
Probably the only place in the world with similar cheap electric energy/person is Iceland.
When I was in Iceland I could not stop thinking about the electric cars possibilities there. I have not lived in Iceland in winter though, which certainly will have more problems.
Unfortunately Norwegian power companies realized they could export electricity to other countries in Europe, so electricity is not as cheap as you might expect.
I was feeling all good for Norway, till I read this:
> It helps that Norway is also the biggest oil producer in Western Europe and the world's third largest exporter of natural gas.
Hmmm.... You know what would really help the environment, Norway? If you stopped drilling all that oil and gas. Your measly consumption of gas isn't the problem; your mega export of oil is.
Imagine what would happen if they (we, I guess, since I live here).
The world is pretty connected - that is more obvious here than when I lived in the states. And most of the world's shipping, transport, etc runs on that. Simply stopping the drilling would cause disruption and aggression. It could easily fuel more fracking, for example, or more places using unsavory means to get the oil (My understanding is that they try to be as environmentally friendly as possible while drilling). In addition, it would, at this point, cause local harm to the folks living here and elsewhere. The oil profits are redirected to the oil fund, which are invested in different sorts of companies and helps others out as well as Norwegians, who use the interest from the fund to pay for various things.
To stop drilling, the gas consumption really needs to be attacked on a global scale. Renewable energies, electric cars, and such things everywhere - affordable to everyone.
A more nuanced and interesting discussion would be if putting the money made from selling oil into kick-starting the EV industry (through subsidies, etc) a net ecological plus or minus?
[+] [-] reitanqild|9 years ago|reply
* price (leaf, vw etc)
and/or
* love Tesla: compared to any other new 400+ hp luxury car the Tesla is a steal for the moment both because of buying price (around 600' NOK for the entry level Model S is cheap compared to any other new sports car around here.)
and/or
* being allowed to drive in the bus lane
On top of this you save fuel, toll roads, park for free in a lot of places, get free ferry tickets etc etc. My former neighbours who drive for 40 minutes to and from work said not buying the Leaf would be failing basic math.
Edit: and lets not forget being allowed to drive in the bus lane.
[+] [-] igravious|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandworm101|9 years ago|reply
Some data: It looks like the leaf's range is basically halved in cold weather. That, and the greater distances between everything in the true north, says to me that they are a long way from adoption.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1087587_what-does-it-tak...
Fyi, running the heater on a gas-powered car does nothing to the range. That heat comes from engine coolant. You are doing the engine a favor, something to remember if your engine is overheating.
[+] [-] e12e|9 years ago|reply
I'm not sure where you get that from. I suppose you mean that there are areas in Canada that are as cold, and have a larger population - but not, as far as I know, as far north:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Circle#Human_habitation
"The largest communities north of the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia and Norway: Murmansk (population 307,257), Norilsk (175,365), Tromsø (71,295) and Vorkuta (70,548). Rovaniemi (61,329) in Finland is the largest settlement in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic Circle lying slightly south of the line.
In contrast, the largest North American community north of the Arctic Circle, Sisimiut (Greenland), has approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Of the Canadian and United States Arctic communities, Barrow, Alaska is the largest settlement with about 4,000 inhabitants."
Tromsø has a relatively mild climate (record cold temperature in winter is ~ -18C, "usual" coldest days of January and February are around -10C). The north of Finland is much colder in winter due to being away from the warm ocean currents, as is inland Norway.
(Source: I grew up in Tromsø, and worked for a while as a city guide before I moved south to Bergen)
[+] [-] kalleboo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vbezhenar|9 years ago|reply
They might become popular in Moscow and other huge cities with warm climate, short distances and rich people.
[+] [-] dang|9 years ago|reply
Ok, we replaced "the article circle" with "Tromsø" in the title above. That should narrow it down a bit :)
[+] [-] LoSboccacc|9 years ago|reply
Wouldn't call that love but hey whatever it's still a good result, right?
[+] [-] e12e|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lqdc13|9 years ago|reply
This, I think, is partially because oil is the main industry in the country so they collectively feel more guilty than neighboring Sweden and Finland.
[+] [-] im3w1l|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CAT0|9 years ago|reply
Too bad it's not beeing updated any more.
[+] [-] Arnt|9 years ago|reply
You all have heard of the petroleum fund. That money is going towards pensions. Of course it's easier to buy an electric car if you're used to thinkinf of the oil age that something that ends within your own working life.
[+] [-] danmaz74|9 years ago|reply
With "oil age" you mean the use of oil, or its production?
[+] [-] shermozle|9 years ago|reply
https://www.troyhunt.com/controlling-vehicle-features-of-nis...
[+] [-] beloch|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stevenrace|9 years ago|reply
The Tesla battery is a liquid cooled battery and thus can be warmed via coolant that is heated by the inductive heater for the HVAC. Same for the GM Volt/Bolt.
[+] [-] Infernal|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] loeg|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dba7dba|9 years ago|reply
It's most watched vlog about Tesla S by someone who lives in Norway. He used to live in Oslo but also lived in the very far northern part of Norway. He offers very detailed reviews of Tesla. Beautiful winter scenery of Norway is a bonus.
[+] [-] unixhero|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orik|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pm24601|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pipio21|9 years ago|reply
Probably the only place in the world with similar cheap electric energy/person is Iceland.
When I was in Iceland I could not stop thinking about the electric cars possibilities there. I have not lived in Iceland in winter though, which certainly will have more problems.
[+] [-] tallanvor|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] admin12345|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] davnn|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1024core|9 years ago|reply
> It helps that Norway is also the biggest oil producer in Western Europe and the world's third largest exporter of natural gas.
Hmmm.... You know what would really help the environment, Norway? If you stopped drilling all that oil and gas. Your measly consumption of gas isn't the problem; your mega export of oil is.
[+] [-] Broken_Hippo|9 years ago|reply
The world is pretty connected - that is more obvious here than when I lived in the states. And most of the world's shipping, transport, etc runs on that. Simply stopping the drilling would cause disruption and aggression. It could easily fuel more fracking, for example, or more places using unsavory means to get the oil (My understanding is that they try to be as environmentally friendly as possible while drilling). In addition, it would, at this point, cause local harm to the folks living here and elsewhere. The oil profits are redirected to the oil fund, which are invested in different sorts of companies and helps others out as well as Norwegians, who use the interest from the fund to pay for various things.
To stop drilling, the gas consumption really needs to be attacked on a global scale. Renewable energies, electric cars, and such things everywhere - affordable to everyone.
In addition, 14 other countries produce more oil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_produ...
5 others produce more natural gas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_natural_g...
At least some sort of effort is being made. Which is more than I can say for the US, which tops both lists.
[+] [-] laurencerowe|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kalleboo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nemo44x|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] imtringued|9 years ago|reply