Norway March 2017

 35% Share (And Rising)

After a record January, things slowed down a bit, but numbers are still historically high with 4.665 new plug-in passenger cars sold in Norway last month, up 1% YoY, with the market share steady at 35%. And that's still without the Opel Ampera-e and renewed e-Golf...

Will we reach 50% this year?

Looking at March Top Sellers, the Nissan Leaf was the Best Seller of the Month, with 499 units, its best result in 11 months, with the Oldtimer outselling younger (But more expensive) models.

Another model to impress was the Tesla Model X, Second Placed in March, with 446 units, its best result since last September.

The #5 Renault Zoe is benefiting from the ZE 40 version to reach the top positions, having delivered 322 units, its best result in 9 months.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Nissan Leaf	499
2	Tesla Model X	446
3	BMW i3	394
4	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	359
5	Renault Zoe	322

Looking at the YTD ranking, the Nissan Leaf climbed to Second Place, while the Tesla Model X jumped to #7.

On the other hand, the Volvo XC90 PHEV is free falling, losing an additional three positions, dropping to #9.

In the second half of the ranking, two models deserve a mention, after a bad start of the year, the Mercedes B250e was up four positions to #13, thanks to 217 units (Best result in 6 months), while the Hyundai Ioniq Electric rebounded, delivering 215 units and jumping to #14, with a several month waiting list, this is an example of a model still handicapped by production constraints.

Final mention for the 54 units of the new Prius PHV, a promising start for the controversially styled hatchback.

In the manufacturers ranking, BMW (17%) and Volkswagen (15%) are running neck-to-neck for the leadership, with Mercedes (12% share) on the lookout in Third Place, followed by Nissan and Tesla (9%).

Looking at Fuel Cell numbers (0,03% share, highest in the world), Hyundai registered an additional two FCEV's last month, increasing the count this year to ten, while the Toyota Mirai registered its first unit this year. Not a good sign, Toyota... 

Pl	Norway	March	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	BMW i3	394	1.513	11	5
2	Nissan Leaf	499	1.259	9	4
3	Volkswagen Passat GTE	212	1.056	8	6
4	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	359	889	7	1
5	Renault Zoe	322	841	6	10
6 7 8 9	Mercedes GLC350e Tesla Model X Volkswagen e-Golf Volvo XC90 T8	248 446 247 154	766 727 706 672	6 5 5 5	21 11 2 19
10	Volkswagen Golf GTE	121	579	4	3
11 12	Tesla Model S BMW 225xe Active Tourer	297 148	481 446	4 3	8 12
13 14 15 16	Mercedes B250e Hyundai Ioniq Electric Audi A3 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In	217 215 106 88	416 407 368 340	3 3 3 3	9 20 7 17
17	BMW X5 40e	76	324	2	16
18 19	Mercedes C350e Audi Q7 e-Tron	79 82	296 293	2 2	15 22
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Volkswagen e-Up! Kia Soul EV BMW 330e Mercedes GLE500e Mitsubishi I-Miev Peugeot iOn Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Toyota Prius PHV Mercedes E350e Citröen C-Zero BMW 740e Kia Optima PHEV Ford Focus Electric BMW 530e BMW i8	66 47 35 9 32 22 16 17 54 29 6 3 6 4 8 1	209 186 111 88 81 66 63 60 55 29 18 17 13 12 8 5	2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	14 13 24 28 25 23 30 18 N/A N/A 26 38 39 32 N/A 33
	TOTAL	4.665	13.400	100

Source: elbil.no; ofvas.no

Models breakdown by Fuel Source

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Nissan Leaf	499
2	Toyota C-HR	456
3	Tesla Model X	446
4	Toyota RAV4	417
5 6 7 8 9 10	BMW i3 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Toyota Yaris Renault Zoe Skoda Octavia Tesla Model S	394 359 338 322 303 297

With 35% share, plug-ins are spreading across the general ranking, breaking the general ranking by fuel source, the Nissan Leaf winning the Best Seller status and six(!) plug-ins in the Top 10, a new record, five of them being BEVs(!!).

The remaining positions went to three HEV's, all from Toyota, with the C-HR replicating the success elsewhere, while the only ICE model shows up only in #9, with the Skoda Octavia resisting the rising tide of electrification.

But it won't be for long (In June?), with the Ampera-e and improved e-Golf knocking on the door, it won't be long until we see a completely electrified Top 10...

Our local correspondent Terje has some additional information on Norway:

Norway is breaking new ground so that other countries can copy the Norwegian charging infrastructure when their EV share rise:

In-door charging regulation: Worlds largest in-door park-and-charge for 100 EVs finally opened after 15 months of regulation issues. New ground was broken on charging safety regulations!

https://www.tu.no/artikler/ladegarasjen-skulle-ha-apnet-desember-2015-na-er-den-endelig-klar/377714

and

http://elbil.no/apnet-norges-storste-ladegarasje/

Speed charge network: Norway is now building a world leading charging network for long-distance EV commuting, which comes in addition to the already available Tesla charging network:

http://elbil.no/skal-teppelegge-norge-med-hurtigladere/