Norway has lapped up 1000 of Nissan’s all-electric LEAFs in just six months, according to the company.
The 1000th car was handed over to its new owner last week, taking the sales to almost 2% of the total car market and making the LEAF the second best-selling Nissan in Norway and the ninth best-selling car overall.
The sales boost is thanks to the Norwegian government’s support of electric vehicles, which includes zero VAT, no new car tax, free parking, exemption from some tolls and the use of bus lanes in the capital city Oslo.
Norway has also established an on-street charging infrastructure, which includes some 3500 public charging points in Oslo, many of them free to use.
“The Norwegian package of incentives is unsurpassed and the recharging infrastructure is established and accessible,” says Olivier Paturet of Nissan Europe. “The ambition of the Norwegian government has matched our own with strong support for the widespread introduction of electric vehicles.”
Nissan says it hopes that Norway will continue its support of electric vehicles with a further expansion and updating of its charging network.
Worldwide the LEAF has sold over 25,000 units since its introduction in December 2010, but by comparison only 1000 electric vehicles in total were registered in the UK last year.
For further information:
www.nissan-global.com/EN/
Related stories:
Toyota and Nissan plan expansion of alternative-fuel vehicles (12-Mar)
Nissan’s all-electric LEAF available for hire in London and Paris (20-Feb)
UK take-up of electric cars reaches just over 1000 in 2011 (9-Jan)
Electric car charging stations rolled out in Norway and US (19-Oct 2009)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5063/
