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Teslas in Norway

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astrotoy

Member
Supporting Member
Jan 24, 2013
357
846
SF Bay Area
We are visiting Norway for the first time. Arrived on Wednesday evening and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in downtown Oslo. I counted the Teslas I saw between the airport and entering the maze of tunnels in the center of Oslo. In about 30+ minutes, starting about 7:30PM (not that much traffic going the other way), I counted NINE Teslas, more than a comparable trip in the Bay Area!
 
We are visiting Norway for the first time. Arrived on Wednesday evening and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in downtown Oslo. I counted the Teslas I saw between the airport and entering the maze of tunnels in the center of Oslo. In about 30+ minutes, starting about 7:30PM (not that much traffic going the other way), I counted NINE Teslas, more than a comparable trip in the Bay Area!

They're the second most users of my Remote S app, and only behind U.S.A. I am not surprised. Here's some more stats if you didn't know:

It turns out that Teslas, along with other electric vehicles, are massively subsidized by the Norwegian government. Tesla’s website advertises the generous incentives available to Norwegian buyers, including exemptions from very hefty sales taxes. What does that do to the net price of a Tesla? The difference between the price of a Tesla and the price of a similar gasoline-driven car is huge in Norway compared to other countries. So in relative terms, the Tesla is a lot cheaper than other cars.

By most measures, Norway is among the greenest countries on Earth. It gets virtually all of its electricity from hydropower; it plans to cut its greenhouse emissions by 30% by 2020; and it has more electric vehicles per capita than any country in the world.
 
Prices on cars i Norway with powerful engines are ridiculous. You have to pay taxes for horsepower, engine volume, emissions, weight +++ But electric cars don't have any taxes so example a Tesla is much cheaper compared to many other cars with powerful engines. Example the P85D I did buy in Norway was $104 380 (810 000 NOK) A new 2015 Subaru STi cost $115 000 (890 000NOK)
Audi RS7 starts at about $240 000
 
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Prices on cars i Norway with big engines are ridiculous, but electric cars don't have any taxes. Example the P85D I did buy in Norway was $104 380 (810 000 NOK) A new 2015 Subaru STi cost $115 000 (890 000NOK)
Audi RS7 starts at about $240 000

Also, the benefits for EVs other than taxes, in Norway are over the top.
Until recently, Teslas could drive in the bus lane - which is a big deal if you see how traffic can be during morning/evening rush hour.
Also, Norway is home to the most expensive gas in the world. And they like to charge tolls soon as you get out of bed.
Tesla = free gas, and no tolls. And Norway has surplus electricity to boot.
 
We are visiting Norway for the first time. Arrived on Wednesday evening and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in downtown Oslo. I counted the Teslas I saw between the airport and entering the maze of tunnels in the center of Oslo. In about 30+ minutes, starting about 7:30PM (not that much traffic going the other way), I counted NINE Teslas, more than a comparable trip in the Bay Area!

Welcome to Norway!

Like I posted in the Tesla moments thread a few days back, it's not even uncommon for me to see three dark blue Teslas parked next to eachother (one of them mine), even where I live (small city with about 65k population) :)

teslas.jpg
 
Expenses are alike for running costs on a Tesla that you bought (85D - 620000NOK) as compared to an ICE that you got for free, if you stay around 40 km away from work/daily commute and use the motorway to get there.

For ICE:
Petrol costs per month: approx 3500 NOK
toll costs: approx 1500 NOK
misc maintenance and parking costs: 1500

This is besides the yearly car owning costs and the pollution check costs every two years.

For Tesla:
Just your monthly downpayment, would be around 6000 NOK.

Pretty certain the Tesla is much much more affordable out here.
 
We are visiting Norway for the first time. Arrived on Wednesday evening and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel in downtown Oslo. I counted the Teslas I saw between the airport and entering the maze of tunnels in the center of Oslo. In about 30+ minutes, starting about 7:30PM (not that much traffic going the other way), I counted NINE Teslas, more than a comparable trip in the Bay Area!
Nine isn't even particularly much for that stretch. Though you were travelling with the traffic, not against it.

Even here in this small town (25k pop), I usually see one or two Teslas when walking to work each morning (15 minutes). That's not counting parked Teslas.
 
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Fortunately, I saved so much on fuel and maintenance with my Tesla in the US, that I can afford to have a meal in a restaurant in Oslo - especially with one or two glasses of wine. :)

The joke I heard in Sweden was at an international conference. The host said that the delegates would probably find expenses in Sweden very high, unless they were from Norway!
 
Fortunately, I saved so much on fuel and maintenance with my Tesla in the US, that I can afford to have a meal in a restaurant in Oslo - especially with one or two glasses of wine. :)

The joke I heard in Sweden was at an international conference. The host said that the delegates would probably find expenses in Sweden very high, unless they were from Norway!
That's not a joke. That's a fact.

A bottle of wine in a restaurant will cost from $50 and up. It's pretty ridiculous.

(But we're not complaining too loudly. Free health care, free education, 5 weeks vacation + public holidays, 49-59 weeks maternity/paternity leave, comparatively cheap Teslas, etc. ;) )
 
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That's not a joke. That's a fact.

A bottle of wine in a restaurant will cost from $50 and up. It's pretty ridiculous.

(But we're not complaining too loudly. Free health care, free education, 5 weeks vacation + public holidays, 49-59 weeks maternity/paternity leave, comparatively cheap Teslas, etc. ;) )

I just paid NOK 40 for coffee this morning. The coffee was smaller than the free frappucino sample at Starbucks in New York.

Only 4 years ago, it was 5NOK to 1$. It's 8NOK to 1$ now so things are more affordable.

a pizza - 30$
meal at mcd - 15$
steak dinner (no drink) - $50
glass of wine (average) - 12$

still, everyone there has enough to eat, they have almost no crime or crazies, and they have a good social structure (families + equality). Also for a population of 6 mil, they produce some crazy hi tech stuff. No place is without problems, but the world can learn a lot from Norway.

two things I do not like about Norway - their winters, and their food. Otherwise norway is awesome.
 
I just paid NOK 40 for coffee this morning. The coffee was smaller than the free frappucino sample at Starbucks in New York.

two things I do not like about Norway - their winters, and their food. Otherwise norway is awesome.

I love the winter, but only when it comes cold and snowy. These past 2 years have been crap in that respect.

Regarding food, well... I'm Spanish. So I'm with you! :)
Hey, a slice of bread with cold shrimps on it cannot be considered a meal, come on!! LOL

On a more serious note: there are many things in Norway that are exemplary, and the policies regarding EVs is one of them.
 
It's great to hear about such a forward thinking Govt investing in the future. Tesla has invested wisely in a great supercharger structure which I think is also contributing to the Model S success there.

The UK Govt gives a lot of help as well but does not penalise ICE cars as much as Norway does so the difference in incentives is smaller. However, we were all very pleased to hear that Tesla has settled out of court with Ecotricity recently so our Supercharger programme is back on track with 7 new sites based in motorway service stations. This will fill out the gaps in UK coverage so you will be able to visit the UK and drive anywhere in England and Scotland on free juice. This must have an impact on Tesla sales in the UK as petrol prices continue to rise.
 
Yeah, the shrimp here is awesome. As is basically all the seafood.

Where the food is worst in Norway is when it comes to diversity. There are lots of import barriers, prices are high and competition is fierce, so we've ended up with a few big grocery store chains that focus on selling a narrow range of mostly norwegian products. Also, Norwegians are generally busy and don't have time to cook, so there's quite a lot of processed/fast food being sold.

Of course, there are still places you can go for good food. In most costal towns you can buy fresh seafood at the docks, there are regular farmers markets many places, and you also have delicacy-havens like Mathallen. Though Mathallen is *not* cheap.

Also, when talking about expensive wines, they can be comparatively cheap at Vinmonopolet (our government-owned alcohol vendor). Vinmonopolet buys up huge amounts of alcohol far in advance, so they can get good prices, and aside from VAT, the import tolls are per liter, which might be $10 on $1000+ bottles of wine. Vinmonopolet is non-profit, so when they get lucky with some of their advance wine purchases, they pass the savings onto the consumers. So, it happens that people travel to Norway to buy a particular bottle of wine at a far lower price than in their home country.
 
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Speaking of Teslas in Norway:
A few weeks ago I vacationed in Northern Norway and spotted 5-6 Tesla Model S in one afternoon driving towards Bodø.
The Model S should be even more popular in the old country now that 4-wheel drive is up and running.
(I am about to order a 70D here in the colonies, even if Florida is last place on earth needing 4-wheel drive, fortunately)

Talking about the fresh seafood over there gets me drooling, I need to go more often, especially now that Norwegian Airlines has non-stop flights to Fort Lauderdale, 10 minutes from my house.
 
Speaking of Teslas in Norway:
A few weeks ago I vacationed in Northern Norway and spotted 5-6 Tesla Model S in one afternoon driving towards Bodø.
The Model S should be even more popular in the old country now that 4-wheel drive is up and running.
(I am about to order a 70D here in the colonies, even if Florida is last place on earth needing 4-wheel drive, fortunately)

Talking about the fresh seafood over there gets me drooling, I need to go more often, especially now that Norwegian Airlines has non-stop flights to Fort Lauderdale, 10 minutes from my house.

Born in Norway or is it way back in the family?
 
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Born in Norway or is it way back in the family?

Nah, not way back: Born and raised in Trondheim.
Got restless and started roaming the world as a teen.
Lived in Alaska, Texas, Virgin Islands, Japan, Kuwait City and many other places.
Now settled down in Fort Lauderdale trying do decide between an
S 70D or an S 85D...Decisions, decisions. :cool:

(Still going to Norway occasionally to sample the food and count Teslas:))
 
Yeah, the shrimp here is awesome.

Mathallen may be awesome, but shrimp are the push up bras of the sea. You get this nice yummy looking boiled shrimp.
You spend so much effort getting the head off, the tail off, all the gunk off, and what you are left with is a nail sized bite of meat - see push up bra, looks bigger on the outside.
Agree on the seafood bit though. Also reindeer meat is awesome. Samlahove is not.
 
. Agree on the seafood bit though. Also reindeer meat is awesome. Samlahove is not.

Aye, you mean smalahove?

Smalahove2.jpg


Small Sheeps head.
A speciality on the West Coast of Norway.
I will stick to the shrimp sandwich
:biggrin:

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Yeah all the world need to figure out is how to be oil exporter and how to grab billions and billions and billions of $$$ just from natural resources export. While getting 99% of electricity cheapest way possible - through hydro.

Brilliant isn't it?