German bloggers report that the Norwegians are looking into adopting a National Transport Plan with 100 percent electric cars, buses, and small trucks by 2025. There seems to have been no news at all about this in English even though the plans are quite advanced and could soon become law.
The plan itself is available as a PDF, but only in Norwegian – and I cannot read it (the thing has 334 pages). But according to one German blogger, Norway plans to ban all cars that are not electric within 10 years. The only exceptions would be larger vehicles – but even 75 percent of coaches and half of heavy trucks would still have to be electric by 2030.
The plan was published at the end of February and is now waiting for approval in Norwegian Parliament. More than a fifth of new cars sold in Norway are already electric.
Another German blogger explains that Norway aims to spend 1 billion euros on bike paths from 2018 to 2029, the timeframe for the National Transport Plan.
Given the length of the PDF, one wonders why this has not been reported on more widely. Apparently, the plan is quite detailed and specific and only needs adopting in Parliament.
Norway itself is reliant upon offshore oil and gas production for much of its income, but this source of revenue is being squeezed out from two directions: production itself is dropping, and prices have plummeted over roughly the past year. The country may well be looking for ways to protect itself from a market that made it rich – but is now coming to an end.
Let’s see what news we get in the next few weeks, and if you know of anything yourself do drop us a comment below.
Source: Renewables International. Reproduced with permission.
