Norway is definitely a 1st world country, but the adoption rate for BEVs is helped greatly with lower registration fees, free or lower cost parking and several other perks. As a national agenda, the citizens are all rowing in the same direction.
Yes, Norway does have very high adoption rate, but I don’t know to what degree their relative wealth affected that adoption rate. We know that wealthy and or high-income individuals adopt EVs at higher rates, so hard to say. Norway also has very high renewable electricity generation, especially hydro, so EVs make a lot of sense from environmental standpoint. Ironically much of their country’s wealth is due to oil and gas. ⛽️
Also interesting that wealth distribution is different than ours, so I expect US Americans will not adopt EVs to the same extent unless much more affordable EVs become available. Even then it’s going to take a long time IMO to match Norway’s success. Poor and low-income buyers have more to worry about than buying EVs in my opinion.
Who knows the precise reason but the 2.3 EB is moving to dual injection and better emissions profile. No idea on North American PHEV but with increased emphasis on PHEVs, maybe it’s back on the table……ROW views it as a cleaner alternative to diesel.
I agree with the concept of virtue signaling, but along with that there is a futurist ideology that compels some people to claw their way beyond convention. Holographic projectors, sat phones, SpaceX rides, Level 5 autonomous vehicles. My perception is that BEVs are at a tipping point where there will be relatively quick widespread adoption globally, as is happening in the EU, especially Norway.. The virtue signalers will move on to FCEVs.
While I don’t generally like psychobabble, I do believe there is some truth to below quote on why many people became Tesla rabid fans that go beyond reason or common sense, though not implying every Tesla buyer falls in this category. IMO rperez817 seemed motivated mostly by saving the planet from greenhouse gases and saw Tesla as part of the solution, basically a physiological need for human survival, and therefore may have overlooked Elon’s politics for perceived greater good. On the other hand most environmentalists lean left, so that causes conflict for them regardless. Point is that very few are truly happy with Tesla even though they manufacture some of the best EVs for the cost; primarily Models Y and 3.
A major problem Tesla is facing is that their buyers are not environmental activists to the same extent as rperez817, and probably purchased more for “virtue-signaling than functionality”, and as of today, there is very little perceived “virtue” in buying a Tesla. No one actually needs a Tesla at all when there are so many other vehicles, so if ownership is mostly about making a statement, what does it actually say?
Tesla has major image problems they need to fix quickly.
“Tesla’s demographic shift brings to mind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs—the theory that people must satisfy their most fundamental physiological and safety needs, like shelter and food, before they move up the hierarchy which culminates at self-actualization—the realization of one’s full potential.
Automobile manufacturers have long marketed cars as an answer to both lower-level needs and that highest one—self-actualization. A Tesla is perfectly fine for answering those lower-level needs. It’s a way to get work, to ferry the kids to soccer, to take that roadtrip. But this current phenomenon of Tesla regret proves that owning a Tesla is more about virtue-signaling than functionality.”