Norway: 25 % luxury tax for electric cars
Anyone who has an electric car in Norway pays hardly any tax on it. This applied to 78 percent of new purchases made so far in 2021 and to 55 percent of purchases in the previous year. Norway thus leads the electric quota in Europe. The citizens of Norway will also have to hurry, because from 2025 onwards, no more passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with internal combustion engines will be allowed to drive in the country.
Vehicles that are electrically charged already save on tolls, ferries and parking fees in Norway. Up to now, no luxury tax had to be paid for large cars either; for internal combustion vehicles, the amount can be in the five-digit range. But after the parliamentary elections in September, this could now change. The conservatives in Oslo are likely to make room for a centre-left alliance. And this provides for a luxury tax also for electric vehicles, but only for those in the luxury class. If the car costs 60,000 euros, a tax of 25 per cent will be due.
Electricity is also subsidised in Germany: For purely electric vehicles, the subsidy can be up to 10,000 euros. The sale of plug-in hybrids is also supported, but from 2022 it must be possible to cover 60 kilometres in purely electric mode, and from 2025 it will already be 80 kilometres. Of course, this is bad news for manufacturers of luxury cars. But these vehicles have an image problem anyway since it is known that large and heavy electric vehicles are real particulate emitters. The size of the cars means that heavy batteries are needed, which in turn cause increased wear on brakes and tyres. The direct path to cleaner air looks different.
In Norway, there is an environmental zone in Bergen and one in Oslo. If the limit values are exceeded and the environmental zones are activated, in Bergen only diesel and petrol cars with even final digits on the number plate are allowed to drive on odd days, on even days it is the other way round. In Oslo, all diesel vehicles will then be banned, vans and trucks over 3.5t will at least still be allowed to enter with Euroclass 6. Only electric vehicles will always have access, whether a small or a luxury class vehicle. Will this also change soon in the future and will the rules of the environmental zones be adapted to electric vehicles?