European laws drives the change
The European Union has established European norms in order to reduce pollution and chemical emissions, where all vehicles that are sold in a EU member state must uphold these norms. The norms consist of a maximum limit of allowed emissions from a vehicle. Since the establishment of the European norms in 1992, pollution with particles, lead and Sulphur has been reduced by 95%. LINK The EU has now taken this even further and banned all ICE vehicles from the year 2035. LINK As a consequence of implementing green initiatives to aid in the roll-out of electric cars, European countries are compelled to adapt to new circumstances. The Norwegian government, even though it’s not a part of the EU, has invested millions of Euros to install a vast network of electric vehicle charging stations, lowering taxes on EVs and increasing them on ICE vehicles. LINK and LINK |
After such drastic and effective initiatives, the Norwegian government now needs to establish a more sustainable transport system and reform taxation again on electric vehicles in order to prevent further loss in tax revenue needed to maintain public charging stations, road maintenance, etc.
The conversion to EV is only working, if you have the necessary charging infrastructure in place. Some countries like Norway are very far in this process while others seem to be lacking behind. But since most EV owners still have the luxury of charging at home the need for a country wide charger network will never be similar to the existing petrol station networks. The biggest problem in this regard is going to be in the big cities, where charging stations and parking spaces are scarce resources.
Many other countries are also pursuing these policies and are now restricting older diesel cars from entering the city centres as well as setting up large charging stations in and around the cities and on the motorways.