Tesla still dominant as Norway posts 97.6 per cent EV share in November

Nearly 20,000 new cars hit the roads in Norway in November, and 97.6 per cent of them were battery electric vehicles (EVs), driven in part by a strong performance from American manufacturer Tesla, which claimed on its own a 31.2 per cent share of the market.

However, Norway is about the only bright spot for Tesla in Europe at the moment, with registrations plunging across key markets compared to a year earlier.

While its overall numbers pale in comparison to some of the larger European countries, Norway is nevertheless leading the way for EV adoption in Europe. With a population of only 5.6 million, month after month Norway still manages to post new car sales that are dominated by EVs.

New data published on Monday by the Opplysningsrådet for Veitrafikken (OFV), Norway’s Road Information Traffic Information Council, confirmed this ongoing trend, with 19,899 new passenger cars registered for the month of November, of which 19,427 were pure EVs, a market share of 97.6 per cent.

That means only 472 cars registered for the first time in November were not battery electric vehicles – and even then, 313 of them were a hybrid vehicle of some sort.

Tesla was far and away the most dominant carmaker in November’s numbers, selling 6,215 new models, and accounting for a market share of 31.2 per cent – nearly three times that of the next best carmaker, Volkswagen, which had a market share of 11 per cent.

The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling car in November, with 3,648 models sold for the month, followed by the Tesla Model 3 which sold 2,562 models.

Tesla’s strong showing in Norway in November helped push the company’s total number of units sold in the country for the year past its own annual record of 26,641 in 2023 – and still with a month to go.

However, Tesla’s strong showing in Norway was not replicated across the rest of Europe, continuing the company’s near-region-wide collapse in popularity in the face of increasing pressure from Chinese electric carmakers and the backlash towards company CEO Elon Musk.

Monthly numbers across Europe showed sales of Tesla continue to fall off the proverbial cliff, with year-over-year declines of 58 per cent in France, 59 per cent in Sweden, 49 per cent in Denmark, 44 per cent in the Netherlands, 47 per cent in Portugal, and 9 per cent in Spain.

These numbers are sourced from a variety of places, including the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (Association des Constructeurs Européens d’Automobiles, ACEA), national automotive associations, and calculations by Reuters, who often get to see private data before it is made public.