OSLO: Norway, which already boasts the world’s highest number of electric cars per capita, said Monday that electric or hybrid cars represented half of new registrations in the country so far this year.

“This is a milestone on Norway’s road to an electric car fleet,” Climate and Environment Minister Vidar Helgesen said.

“The transport sector is the biggest challenge for climate policy in the decade ahead. We need to reduce (CO2) emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030 and ... this requires the electrification of the car fleet,” Helgesen told AFP.

Sales of electric cars acc­ou­­nted for 17.6pc of new vehicle registrations in January and hybrid cars accounted for 33.8pc, for a combined 51.4pc, according to figures from the Road Traffic Information Council.

“It is important to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a technological transition and a market transformation in transport,” Helgesen said.

“In this respect, Norway is a political laboratory where we are showing that things go quickly if we have the right incentive mechanisms,” he added.

Norway, the biggest oil producer in Western Europe, has adopted a generous policy to encourage the purchase of cleaner vehicles.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2017