Christina Bu

When it comes to electric vehicle adoption, Norway is putting the rest of the world to shame. It’s the only country where the majority of car sales are EVs. And this year marked the first time that EVs outnumber gasoline-powered cars on the road. One key to Norway’s success has been its robust EV driver’s association, Norsk Elbilforening (Elbil for short). Over the last 10 years, Elbil’s secretary general Christina Bu has grown the group’s membership from about 14,000 to more than 120,000, making it the largest consumer-based EV association in the world and a powerful advocate for low-carbon mobility.

Elbil is a nonprofit, but it operates in a rather commercial manner, selling membership for about €50 ($54) a year. This funding allows it to lobby effectively on behalf of EV drivers, bringing a consumer voice to policy debates. “We’re quite independent, which means we can say what we think is best,” Bu says. The group has pushed tirelessly over the years for policies that incentivize EV ownership, including the country’s very successful “polluter pays” tax structure in which high-emission cars are taxed the most, and zero-emission cars the least. 

While it’s true that Norway is a rich nation that can afford to foot the bill for such progressive incentives, there have been perennial political attempts to scrap them. Their staying power is thanks in large part to Elbil’s persistent pushback. “What you often see in other countries is that there are very strong forces that have a lot to gain in stopping a fast EV development, and you don't have strong enough players to tell the other side of the story,” Bu says. “We have always been there in every debate, in every budget negotiation, with the facts and the figures from the other side.” 

Taxes are only part of the equation, though. Elbil has also worked to make EV charging as easy as possible. For example, in 2017 it fought for the “right to charge” of people living in apartments—and won. And in 2022, it created an all-in-one charging card and app that gives members easy access to 300,000 charging points across Europe. And thanks to Elbil’s lobbying, last year the government mandated that all new fast chargers must allow credit card payments.

All of this has undoubtedly helped speed Norway’s transportation revolution. As of September, roughly 96% of all new cars sold in the country are electric, up from just 13% when Bu started at Elbil in 2014. And Bu is confident that by next year, it’ll be 100%. “Norway's story shows that it is not really about people's attitude,” she says. “It's all about regulation, taxes, and incentives."