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ELECTRIC CARS

Lower Danish taxes backed for home electric car charging

A commission appointed to facilitate conversion to electric cars in Denmark has said motorists should pay less tax for charging them at home.

Lower Danish taxes backed for home electric car charging
File photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The so-called Car Commission (Bilkommission) has recommended that all private motorists should be offered a reduced tax rate on electricity of 0.8 øre per kilowatt hour when charging their vehicles.

Formed in 2019 to support efforts to increase the proportion of electric cars on Danish roads, the commission looks into how charging station infrastructure can be developed in a report released on Friday.

A previous report by the commission was released last year.

Under current rules, private consumers are allowed to pay the lower rate for electricity for use above 4000 kWh annually if their homes have pre-existing electric heating.

Homes on the heating grid or with gas heating are therefore likely to incur costs of 2,000-3,000 more annually if they charge electric cars at home, the report said.

As such, the commission has recommended a secondary meter for electricity consumption for charging cars.

However, the system could face difficulties enforcing and administrating, it said.

The cheapest way to charge an electric car is by using commercial charging stations, which are taxed at 0.4 øre per kWh.

That charged has been fixed until 2030 as part of reforms to Denmark’s car registration taxes designed to favour electric vehicles.

The commission said that this commercial advantage does not encourage motorists who drive more infrequently to switch to electric.

READ ALSO: How will Denmark's new transport proposal affect the cost of cars?

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ELECTRIC CARS

Norway reaches 50 percent electric in 2020 new car sales

Norway became the first country in the world where electric cars accounted for more than 50 percent of new registrations in 2020, according to figures published Tuesday by an industry group.

Norway reaches 50 percent electric in 2020 new car sales
Photo: AFP

According to Opplysningsradet for Veitrafikken (OFV, “Information Council for Road Traffic”), electric vehicles accounted for 54.3 percent of the new car market last year, up from 42.4 percent a year earlier.

The four best-selling models in the Nordic country were the Audi e-tron, the Tesla Model 3, the Volkswagen ID.3 and the Nissan Leaf — all fully electric.

The fifth placed car — the Volkswagen Golf — can be bought in a rechargeable version but the statistics do not differentiate the engine types.

In December, electric car sales set a monthly record in Norway with 66.7 percent, with the numbers boosted by the arrival of new models, OFV said.

Industry group Norsk elbilforening (Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association) said separately to AFP that Norway was the first country to break the overall 50 percent threshold.

Norway, the largest producer of oil in Western Europe, is making headway in electric mobility thanks to heavy subsidies.

The Nordic country, where electricity is primarily produced from hydroelectric dams, aims to have all new cars being “zero emission” by 2025.

READ ALSO: Ten things in Norway that are actually quite cheap 

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