Electric cars accounted for almost 80% - a new world record - of new passenger vehicle registrations in Norway last year, according to figures presented Monday by a specialized body.

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Driven by the American Tesla, at the top of the manufacturer rankings with 12.2% market share, 138,265 new electric cars were sold last year in the Scandinavian country, or 79.3% of total sales of private vehicles. new ones, the Road Traffic Information Council (FOV) said in a statement.

In doing so, Norway, which is both a major hydrocarbon producer and a zero-emission car champion, smashed its own record set in 2021 (64.5%).

By way of comparison, electric represented 8.6% of new registrations in the European Union in the first nine months of 2022.

In December alone, all-electric cars captured 82.8% of sales as Norwegian households rushed ahead of a tax change that made their purchase more expensive.

Tesla's Model Y alone accounted for 11.5% of the market, Elon Musk's group boasting of having broken the sales record held since 1969 by the legendary Volkswagen Beetle.

Norway aims for all its new cars to be zero emission – electric or hydrogen – from 2025, thanks in particular to ultra-favorable taxation.

But as this segment has matured, authorities have begun to whittle away some of the benefits that weigh heavily on public accounts.

Since January 1, the exemption from VAT (at a rate of 25%) when purchasing a new electric vehicle is thus only valid within the limit of a purchase price of 500,000 crowns (approximately 47,500 euros), sums above this ceiling being subject to tax.

Today, one in five cars on Norwegian roads is fully electric, another world record.