Nurturing a Regime Shift Toward Electro-mobility in Norway

Abstract

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have exploded over the past several years in Norway, to the point that new EVs now outnumber new gas-driven cars in current sales. The popular narrative about how this transition came about suggests that it was the result of a targeted set of policies aiming to stimulate demand for EVs. In this chapter, we tell a different story. In looking at the history behind these ambitious policies, we aim to show that the policies were originally implemented to stimulate the development of a Norwegian EV industry. During the 1990s, much work was done among various industrial actors, NGOs, and policy-makers to establish a new Norwegian niche industry venture, which was partially inspired by local policies implemented in California. The venture did not come to fruition, but the policies eventually did, together with changes in mobility culture, creating one of the world’s strongest EV markets. The story illustrates the importance of understanding not only how policies work, but also how they are produced and how their effects travel across geographical borders.