ICE age ending

Norway’s internal combustion engine (ICE) car sales are crashing and EV media like Electrek predict the rest of the world will soon follow.

The country has been at the forefront of EV adoption for years and intends all new car sales to be electric within four years.

Norway has become the first country where sales of fully electric cars outnumbered petrol, diesel and hybrid powered ones.

In 2020, all-electric cars hit a record 54% market share of Norway’s total new cars sales that year.

“Our preliminary forecast is for electric cars to surpass 65% of the market in 2021,” Norwegian EV Association secretary general Christina Bu is reported as saying earlier this year.

“If we manage that, the goal of selling only zero-emission cars in 2025 will be within reach.”

Lately, EV market shares have increased not only with more electric cars hitting the market but also because of gasoline and diesel car sales crashing, Electrek says.

“In March, petrol cars had a 4.8% market share and diesel cars had a 4.7% market share, representing fewer than 1500 vehicle sales in March (via Norway’s Road Traffic Information Council).

“That’s less than half the market share that the internal combustion engine vehicles had during the same period last year.”

Electrek predicts Norway will hit its EV-only sales by 2025 target easily with many new EV models arriving and in higher volume.

It doubts projections by some analysts that EVs will account for barely 30% of passenger car market share in 2030.

“It’s not just about new EV sales, it’s also about gasoline car sales crashing,” Electrek says.

“As EV sales are rising and it becomes clear that it’s the future, buyers are more wary about buying new gasoline vehicles, even if they’re not ready to make the jump to electric vehicles just now.

“The resale value for internal combustion engine vehicles is going to crash, and that’s going to affect buying habits.”