

Top-Selling Car in Norway Now Electric Car Two Months in a Row - ggjain
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/11/30/top-selling-cars-norway-now-electric-cars-two-months-row-7-reasons/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

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dagss
As a Norwegian this keep coming up in lunch conversations. I just bought an
old used car from somebody buying a Tesla.

What we come back to is the very high sale taxes on new cars in Norway (our
"rule of thumb" is that cars are close to twice as expensive in Norway as in
some other countries), but that most(/all?) of those taxes are waived for
electric. So the alternative to getting, e.g., a Tesla is paying almost twice
as much for a "similar" BMW. Same story for lower-end cars.

Also, on the commuter high-ways leading in to Oslo, there's one lane that's
reserved for bus+taxi+electric (similar to the 2+ or 3+ person-per-car lanes
in California). There's a joke that there's a standing queue of Teslas in that
lane now (though I don't drive there so I haven't seen how much of an
exaggeration that is).

Also, electric don't pay on the toll roads, which saves you 3-4$ each time if
you're living outside towns and commuting in.

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dghughes
What about driving in the snow?

As a Canadian I can't see a Tesla being of any use in the winter, do people
talk about that?

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pi-rat
Here is a review of the Tesla during winter conditions in Norway:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ5PqPeOPT0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ5PqPeOPT0)
(Spoiler: Pretty damn good even in harsh conditions)

~~~
dhughes
Interesting, he had good points about such a heavy vehicle in snow and the
large amount of torque that can make for dangerous winter driving especially
in a rear-wheel drive vehicle.

I had to look up what the 'cold weather spec' package is and seems to be just
creature comforts not different engineering/design to increase efficiency in
cold weather.

My concern is at -20C in January with a metre of snow, heater on full blast,
spinning the wheels as I plow through snow and slush with aggressive studded
winter tires how much will that 400km range drop? Even just warming up the
interior (a common thing) in the morning and scraping off the ice off the
windows before going to work in the morning. My current vehicle's mileage
drops in half in the winter due to all those conditions.

~~~
pi-rat
Package also seems to include battery heating, probably wise as li-ion sucks
in extreme cold: "The Cold Weather Package adds an upgraded heater for the
battery coolant to boost range and performance in the coldest of weather,
along with an "improved defrost" grille, heaters in the cowl and the
windshield washer nozzles, and inside, heated seats for the second row as
well."

You can do morning heating using grid power, trigger it remotely via your
phone (they have an app for iphone/droid). I think you also can schedule
heating ahead of time.

~~~
dhughes
It would be nice if there was a torque reduction feature.

A trick for manual transmission vehicles in winter when on ice is to shift
into third gear to reduce the torque so the wheel don't spin, the Tesla is the
insane opposite of that.

[ Come on Elon summon your inner Canadian instincts! ]

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ggjain
And the Best part its not Tesla. In September, it was the Tesla Model S and in
October, it was the Nissan Leaf.

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rsendv
As a Norwegian I would like to see sale numbers in Oslo compared to the rest
of the country.

My educated guess is that the vast majority of EVs are bought and driven in
the larger Oslo area, and if I'm right, I think we actually should be
discussing Oslo and not Norway as a country.

Edit: Reorganized two words.

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bhewes
Norway is one of the richest countries in the world. Here in LA a bunch of my
neighbors have bought the Tesla S. The tax incentive on a luxury car is nice,
but it is still a luxury car. I do like how hydrocarbons are the main driver
of green tech in Norway.

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riggins
I can't wait for widespread adoption of electric cars and reduced pollution.

~~~
conductor
Are you sure it will reduce the pollution (genuine question)? The cars will
stop polluting directly but the electricity producers will start producing
much more electricity (which is much more pollution) to feed the cars. So,
which of these two pollutions is better - nuclear waste/pollution or co2?

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Dewie
The people that are complaining about _pollution_ rather than _global warming_
might be thinking about the particles that aren't pleasant and/or healthy to
breath in. Global warming is a problem for everyone (though the effects of it
may vary depending on where you are on the planet), while pollution is for
some a more local problem. If, for example, all cars in a city were converted
to electric cars there might be more net pollution (maybe - could be all
hydroelectric for example), but the pollution itself would be concentrated
around the power plants, _not_ in the city itself. So then you won't have to
deal with pollution if you live close to one of the main arteries of that
city.

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moocowduckquack
There would still be less net pollution in your example though as the total
pollution from using petrol to power the cars would still exceed the amount of
pollution from an oil burning power station producing electricity to power the
cars.

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embro
I am proud of you Norway! Can't wait for Canada to do the same.

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tobiasu
You can't wait for Canada to put a 100+% tax on gas-powered vehicles? I have
bad news for you...

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embro
To be honest, that would make my day, I wish gas was triple the actual price.

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pearkes
Do you live in the city with public transportation? Then I would definitely
agree.

Otherwise, Canada can be really big and rural. Not having access to car (or in
this case, potentially not being able to afford it) can be really damaging to
your career, lifestyle, social life.

I grew up in the interior of BC 9 hours East of Vancouver. All of our driving
policy (new driver rules and licensing) was dreamed up by street racing ridden
Vancouver politics. The result was really damaging in small communities, as 18
year olds could only drive with 1 passenger. In effect, this eliminated young
peoples ability to designate a DD. People didn't stop partying...they just
drove.

Point being, policies designed for city residents don't always fit out in the
rural areas.

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dmm
Another way to see this is that everybody is subsidizing rural lifestyles by
bearing the cost of their externalities.

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Avshalom
You know that "rural" is where all of your food, energy and building materials
come from right?

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dmm
Close the externalities and the prices of food, energy, and building materials
will adjust accordingly. I have absolutely nothing against rural people or
lifestyles but if you choose to commute two hours a day so you can live in the
country, you should pay the true price of your lifestyle to society.

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aquadrop
Wow, a country with Tesla Model S as top selling car... powerful :)

