EV cars soon will pay tolls

Exemptions for electric vehicles will be phased out over next few years

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Exemptions for electric vehicles will be phased out over next few years.

The Local

Drivers of electric cars will begin paying road tolls of 30 kroner ($3.75) within a year, 45 kroner ($5.65) by 2020, and 71 kroner ($8.90) in 2025 to journey from Bærum to Oslo (a journey of about nine miles), NRK reports.

That is just one example of how journeys via toll roads will become increasingly costly for Norwegian electric vehicle drivers.

Although Norway’s Stortinget decided as part of its 2017 budget that tolls for electric vehicles should not exceed half of similar payments made by fossil fuel-powered vehicles, exemption will be phased out over the coming years.

“We understood that electric cars would eventually have to pay tolls, and an increase in the number of tolls has been announced, but the amount is likely to surprise many,”
General Secretary Christine Bu of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association told NRK.

In Oslo, the number of toll roads will increase substantially next year in accordance with authorities’ goal of spreading road toll costs between a greater number of drivers.

Akershus County Councilor Anette Solli, who was part of the committee that developed a plan encompassing the toll changes, cited increasing numbers of electric cars as part of the cause for the new practice.

“Sooner or later we all must agree that incentives for owning electric cars must be scaled back, since there are now many electric cars,” she told NRK.

“But [incentives] are a method that works. We have more emissions-free vehicles, and that is hugely important. I don’t think it’s time to end this method before we are where we want to be with regard to emissions-free cars,” Solli added.

Bu remained critical of the overall cost level of the plan. “They are high prices, and they are even higher for petrol and diesel cars,” she told NRK.

“I think it will result in a lot of people choosing other forms of transport. Maybe that’s also part of the plan, but it means that we must question whether financing methods of this kind are sustainable,” she added.

This article originally appeared in the May 4, 2018, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.