98.3% BEV: Norway records highest monthly share of electric vehicles

Two new electric car records were set in Norway in September: 98.3 per cent of all new passenger cars in September were BEVs. What's more, after the first nine months of the year, electric cars accounted for 95 per cent of new car sales. That's another new record.

Tesla model y juniper min — Image: Tesla

The Norwegian Road Administration (OFV) has recorded 14,084 new registrations of purely electric cars for September. That is 98.3 per cent of all new car registrations (14,329), meaning that only 245 cars did not have a purely electric drive system in the previous month. Even in Norway, a country that is a pioneer in BEVs, such a high percentage has never been seen before. However, in recent months, the proportion of electric vehicles has frequently exceeded 95 per cent, for example, in August with 97 per cent.

Conversely, petrol and diesel vehicles – including hybrid variants – accounted for only 1.7 per cent of all new passenger cars registered for the first time in September. This is also the lowest figure ever recorded in Norway. “This shows that we are well on our way to achieving our zero vision, whereby all new passenger cars in 2025 will be zero-emission vehicles. Pure petrol and diesel cars are on their way to being phased out. Now it is important to get vans and lorries moving in the same direction,” said Geir Inge Stokke, Director of the OFV.

A brief look at the exact distribution of drive types: diesel vehicles still account for 105 registrations and a market share of 0.7 per cent. Petrol plug-in hybrids play hardly any role in Norway (58 units, 0.4% market share), and even fewer petrol hybrids (30 / 0.2%), diesel plug-in hybrids (27 / 0.2%) and pure petrol cars (25 / 0.2%) were sold.

And while the share of electric cars is at an all-time high, new car sales are also picking up. In September, 14,329 new passenger cars were registered, a good ten per cent more than in the same month last year. What’s more, car registrations so far this year already total 113,325 units, 23.5 per cent more than in the same period in 2024, with 95 per cent of all new cars this year being BEVs.

In September, the Tesla Model Y once again led the model rankings with 4,132 new registrations and a market share of 28.8 per cent. It was followed at a considerable distance by the Tesla Model 3 (696 units) and the Volvo EX30 (581). Combining the two Tesla models, the Texan carmaker achieved a market share of 33.7 per cent in the previous month.

When it comes to vans, however, Norway is not quite as far along in terms of electrification, even though it is far ahead of all other countries. Overall, sales of new vans rose sharply in September this year compared to the same month last year. A total of 2,889 vans were newly registered, a full 51 per cent more than in September 2024. Electric vehicles accounted for 43 per cent of vans, compared to 23 per cent in September last year. Looking at the year to date, an average of 45 per cent of all newly registered vans have been electric.

ofv.no (press release), ofv.no (September), ofv.no (models, all in Norwegian)

This article was first published by Cora Werwitzke for electrive’s German edition