Bumble, Norway — About 180 kilometers south of Oslo, along a pine and birch tree-lined avenue, this shiny gas station offers a glimpse into a future dominated by electric vehicles.
In service areas run by Texas-based retail chain Circle K, there are far more chargers than gas pumps. On summer weekends, when Oslo residents flee to their country cottages, lines to recharge may return down the off-ramp.
In addition to her usual job of flipping burgers and calling for purchases of the popular treat, salty licorice, Marit Bergsland, who works at the store, has found a way to help frustrated customers plug into their chargers. I had to learn.
“Sometimes I have to drink coffee to calm myself down,” she said.
Last year, 80% of new car sales in Norway were electric, putting the country at the forefront of the transition to battery-powered mobility. Norway has also become an observatory for understanding what the electric car revolution means for the environment, workers and life in general. The country will end sales of internal combustion engines in 2025.
The Norwegian experience suggests that electric cars will bring benefits without the dire consequences predicted by some critics. Of course, there are issues such as unreliable chargers and long wait times during periods of high demand. Auto dealers and retailers have had to adapt. The switch is reshaping the auto industry, making Tesla the best-selling brand and leaving established automakers like Renault and Fiat behind.
However, the air in Oslo, the capital of Norway, is fairly clean. The city has become quieter as the noisy petrol and diesel cars have been scrapped. Oslo’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 30% since 2009, but there hasn’t been mass unemployment among petrol station workers and the electricity grid hasn’t collapsed.
Some lawmakers and business executives have portrayed the fight against climate change as requiring hard sacrifices. “That’s not the case with EVs,” says Christina Bu, Executive Director of the Norwegian EV Association, which represents owners. “That’s what people actually accept.”
Norway began promoting electric vehicles in the 1990s in support of Sink, a homegrown electric vehicle startup owned for several years by Ford Motor Company. Battery-powered vehicles are exempt from VAT, import duties and highway tolls.
The government has also subsidized the construction of vital fast-charging stations in a country roughly the size of California with a population of just 5.5 million. The combination of incentives and ubiquitous charging has “removed all friction factors,” said Jim Rowan, chief executive of neighboring Sweden-based Volvo Cars.
This policy puts Norway more than ten years ahead of the United States. The Biden administration aims for her 50% of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030, a milestone Norway achieved in her 2019.
Metal pipes jut from the roof of a prefabricated hut a few feet from the six-lane highway that wraps around Oslo’s waterfront. The building measures pollution from passing traffic, just a stone’s throw from bike paths and marinas.
Levels of nitrogen oxides, a combustion by-product of gasoline and diesel that cause smog and diseases such as asthma, are dropping precipitously as more electric vehicle owners grow. “We are trying to solve the NOx problem,” said Oslo’s chief air quality engineer, Tobias Wolf, referring to nitrogen oxides.
However, there are still problems where the rubber contacts the road surface. Oslo’s air contains unhealthy levels of fine particles, partly due to worn tires and asphalt. Electric vehicles, which account for about one-third of registered vehicles in the city but are a high percentage of traffic, could exacerbate this problem.
Like many Oslo residents, Wolff said he prefers to get around by bicycle, saying it is “a lot heavier than an internal combustion engine and causes more wear and tear.”
There is another persistent problem. Apartment dwellers say it’s still difficult to find a place to plug their car. Local lawmakers and residents recently gathered in the basement of a restaurant in Oslo to discuss the issue.
Sirin Hellvin Stav, deputy mayor for environment and transport in Oslo, said at the event that the city will install more public chargers while reducing the number of cars by a third, making the streets safer and He said he hoped to create an empty space for walking and biking.
“The goal is to reduce emissions. That’s why EVs are so important, but it’s also about making cities more livable,” Stav, a member of the Greens, said in a subsequent interview. rice field.
Electric cars are part of Oslo’s broader plan to make its carbon footprint nearly zero by 2030. All city buses will be electric by the end of the year.
Oslo also targets the construction industry, which is responsible for more than a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. Contractors bidding on public projects are more likely to win if they use equipment that runs on electricity or biofuels.
Last month, in a working-class park near Oslo, an excavator dug up dirt for a decorative pond. A thick cable connected the excavator to a power source and drove an electric motor. An electric dump truck then hauled the dirt away.
Typically, the crew had to stop working when the children at the nearby kindergarten took a nap. But the electrical equipment was quiet enough to keep working. (Norwegian children take naps outdoors when the weather permits.)
Espen Hauge, who manages the urban construction project, said he was surprised that the contractors were quick to substitute hard-to-find electrical equipment for diesel machinery. “Several projects that we thought would be impossible or very difficult to do zero-emissions still had zero-emissions bids,” he said.
Stub admitted that Norway’s move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while producing large amounts of oil and gas is hypocritical. Fossil fuel exports earned $180 billion last year. “We are exporting that pollution,” Stave said, referring to her party’s call to phase out oil and gas production by 2035.
However, the Norwegian government has not withdrawn its oil and gas production. “There are several areas in production or under development, providing energy security for Europe,” Amund Vik, Minister of State for the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, said in a statement.
Elsewhere, the Norwegian power grid has held up to increased power demand without any problem. It helps that the country has abundant hydropower. Still, the EV Association’s calculations show that electric vehicles have moderately increased power demand, with most owners charging their vehicles at night when demand is low and power is cheap.
Elvia, which supplies electricity to Oslo and the surrounding area, had to install new substations and transformers in several locations, said Anne Nysæther, the company’s managing director. However, she added:”
Also, the unemployment rate for auto mechanics has not risen. Electric cars don’t need oil changes and require less maintenance than gas cars, but they still break down. There are also many gasoline vehicles that require maintenance over the years.
Working at a Volkswagen dealership in Oslo since the 1980s, Sindre Drunberg was trained to repair electric car batteries. Was it difficult to switch? “No,” he said, replacing the faulty cell in his Volkswagen e-Golf.
Electric vehicles are creating jobs in other industries. In Fredrikstad, 80 km south of Oslo, a former steel mill has been turned into a battery recycling center. Workers, including those who worked at the steel mill, dismantle the battery pack. A machine then shreds the puck to separate the plastic, aluminum, and copper from the black mass, which contains key ingredients such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite.
The Hydrovolt-owned plant is the first of several plants the company plans to build in Europe and the United States. So far, not much can be recycled, but eventually recycled batteries could significantly reduce the need for mining.
“If you can make something new using active materials that are already in products, you can create shortcuts,” says Hydrovolt, a joint venture between aluminum producer Norsk Hydro and battery maker Northvolt. said Peter Qvarfordt, Chief Executive Officer of Maker.
If anyone has to worry about their job, it’s a car dealer. The near-total disappearance of petrol and diesel cars from showrooms has reshaped the industry.
Moller Mobility Group has long been Norway’s largest car retailer, with sales of $3.7 billion last year and dealers in Sweden and the Baltics. Moller’s Oslo outlet has plenty of electric Volkswagens like the ID.4 and ID.Buzz. Internal combustion locomotives are rare.
Still, Tesla is well ahead of Volkswagen in Norway, with 30% of the market, according to the Road Information Council, compared to 19% for Volkswagen and its Skoda and Audi brands.
Sales of electric vehicles by Chinese companies such as BYD and Xpeng are also growing. If this pattern repeats in Europe and other parts of the US, some incumbent automakers may not survive.
Petter Hellman, CEO of Moller Mobility, predicts that traditional brands will regain ground because their customers trust them and they have extensive service networks. “But obviously Tesla has shaken the industry,” he added.
Circle K, which bought gas stations once owned by Norway’s national oil company, is learning how to use the country to serve electric vehicle owners in the US and Europe. The chain is now owned by Alimentation Couche-Tard, based near Montreal, and he has over 9,000 stores in North America.
Circle K executive Guro Stordal has the daunting task of developing a charging infrastructure that works with dozens of car brands, each with their own software.
Electric car owners tend to spend more time in Circle K because it takes longer to recharge than to fill up a tank of gas. Suitable for selling food. However, gasoline remains an important source of income.
Hakon Stiksrud, Head of Global E-Mobility at Circle K, said of electric vehicles: “But if we don’t seize those opportunities, they quickly become a threat.”
