[HN Gopher] Norway to hit 100% electric vehicle sales by early n...
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       Norway to hit 100% electric vehicle sales by early next year
        
       Author : fourmii
       Score  : 201 points
       Date   : 2021-10-06 20:00 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.drive.com.au)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.drive.com.au)
        
       | tannhaeuser wrote:
       | Isn't that a strange thing, considering Norway is vast, has low
       | population density especially in the north, and has own oil
       | resources available?
        
         | tobinfricke wrote:
         | Norway has plentiful hydropower, so electric cars do make sense
         | there.
         | 
         | They do have huge crude oil reserves, but do they have any
         | refining capability?
        
           | magicalhippo wrote:
           | > do they have any refining capability
           | 
           | Only two[1], but one of them is somewhat big[2], producing 4x
           | the domestic consumption of gasoline.
           | 
           | [1]: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oljeraffineri#Oljeraffiner
           | ier_...
           | 
           | [2]: https://www.equinor.com/en/what-we-do/terminals-and-
           | refineri...
        
           | elygre wrote:
           | It seems the answer is yes. There are two refineries.
           | According to https://www.equinor.com/en/what-we-do/terminals-
           | and-refineri..., Mongstad (the larger of the two) has
           | capacity: "Petrol (gasoline) production at Mongstad is 4
           | times Norwegian domestic consumption"
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | dogma1138 wrote:
         | When a Models S costs about as much as a Mazda 3... what would
         | you buy?
        
         | kmonsen wrote:
         | That's why it's not going to be 100%. Just someone looking at a
         | graph and extrapolating.
        
         | Unbeliever69 wrote:
         | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianpalmer/2021/06/19/why-norway...
        
         | Syonyk wrote:
         | Their tax structure on vehicles is such that a loaded Tesla
         | costs about the same as a Civic - the taxes (that are exempt on
         | EVs) are quite massive on new cars.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_N...
         | has extensive details, but they've got a set of incentives that
         | _exceedingly_ favor BEVs.
        
         | digikata wrote:
         | One way to avoid the resource curse is to use the bounty of the
         | resource to develop diversified dependencies/capabilities for a
         | future when that resource runs out or is devalued.
        
         | tuatoru wrote:
         | Norway is wealthy thanks to selling fossil fuels. Norwegians
         | feel guilty about that, but not guilty enough to stop selling
         | them.
         | 
         | This is essentially performative environmentalism from them.
         | Still, it will help other countries by throwing up unforeseen
         | problems in all-electric ground transportation, and some
         | solutions.
        
           | bellyfullofbac wrote:
           | I don't think it's a country of virtue signallers as you
           | think, just people who like to get the best bang for their
           | buck. And gas cars as well as fuel get taxed so much, that
           | buying electric makes sense for them.
           | 
           | Who would've thunk, economic incentives help!? Sadly in many
           | other places the deciding economic incentives are the ones
           | the politicians get from the oil and ICE car industry.
        
             | bagacrap wrote:
             | arguably, taxes are the government's way of making the
             | decision for the people, so if by "Norway" gp more
             | accurately meant "the government of Norway", you haven't
             | refuted their claims
        
               | matsemann wrote:
               | We (as in the Norwegian population) have voted for
               | politicians supporting this, though. At the election a
               | month ago, it was just a thousand or so votes from being
               | an incredible amount of green representatives.
        
             | bpodgursky wrote:
             | The claim is not that the individuals buying cars are
             | signalling, it is the public policy (incentivizing
             | individual EV ownership while exporting carbon emissions)
             | which is hypocritical.
        
               | opinion-is-bad wrote:
               | Norway also spends a lot of energy criticizing foreign
               | regimes for attempting to follow the same path as Norway;
               | prosperity through natural resource extraction. It's
               | great that Norway has gotten rich enough to turn the
               | corner, but not every country is so fortunate.
        
           | nso wrote:
           | Norway has been relatively wealthy for quite some time.
           | Before oil it was from fishing and shipping, amongst others.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | shkkmo wrote:
           | Norway has been doing a relatively good job of investing
           | their oil revenue into technologies and infrastructure that
           | will carry their economy through the end of oil and hopefully
           | help reduce global warming.
           | 
           | Given their relatively contribution to the total global
           | production and OPEC's supply management to control prices, it
           | is unclear if a halt in Norwegian oil sales would raise
           | prices significantly enough to matter. There is an argument
           | to be made that is is better for Norway to capture those
           | profit and invest them into the research we need to reduce
           | oil dependence and sequester CO2.
           | 
           | I don't think that the electric car adoption is purely driven
           | by environmentalism. Norway has extremely cheap energy that
           | makes electric cars much more economically attractive.
        
             | dagw wrote:
             | _I don 't think that the electric car adoption is purely
             | driven by environmentalism._
             | 
             | On an individual level basically no one in Norway buys an
             | electric car due to environmentalism. It's 100% an economic
             | decision. Buying a new gasoline powered car today in Norway
             | simply doesn't make financial sense no matter how you look
             | at it.
        
             | tuatoru wrote:
             | s/oil/heroin/g
        
           | outside1234 wrote:
           | They also get the shit taxed out of them for buying a IC car,
           | so electric cars are actually cheaper.
        
             | robotresearcher wrote:
             | Which is a political decision made in a democracy, not a
             | law of physics. Norwegians chose to do this. (Yes, a
             | relatively small subset of people are actually empowered in
             | a democracy, but it's the least-bad system known, etc etc).
        
               | richlandlord wrote:
               | Not only there was no referendum that allowed Norwegians
               | to decide if this was their political volition, but
               | political volition alone is not enough to tax something.
               | If it were, everything would be taxed, because you can
               | construct any 51% against any 49% on any topic and add a
               | tax.
               | 
               | If you want to know what Norwegians really think about
               | the tax, make it optional and see how many people pay for
               | it.
        
               | vkou wrote:
               | > If you want to know what Norwegians really think about
               | the tax, make it optional and see how many people pay for
               | it.
               | 
               | If you want to see what Norwegians really think about
               | paying for things in stores, make shoplifting laws
               | completely optional, and replace cash registers with tip
               | jars, and see how that works out.
        
         | mensetmanusman wrote:
         | They are also rich to the tune of $200k saved in the nations
         | coffers for every citizen.
        
           | robotresearcher wrote:
           | That's an awful lot of money. The US National Debt is around
           | $80K per US citizen. The War in Afghanistan cost around $7K
           | per US citizen, based on numbers from Wikipedia.
        
           | nerdawson wrote:
           | The UK and Norway found oil in the North Sea around the same
           | time. Norway used that revenue to create the world's largest
           | sovereign wealth fund. The UK squandered it on tax cuts.
        
         | FourthProtocol wrote:
         | Scandinavia in general takes global warming more seriously than
         | most other countries on the planet. And so this isn't strange
         | at all. The whole of Europe is amping up alternatives to
         | petrol- and diesel-based transportation, from e-bikes, cargo
         | e-bikes, e-scooters to Teslas and electric Porsches (Taycan),
         | and anything inbetween.
        
         | shkkmo wrote:
         | Norway isn't really that vast. It's about the size of New
         | Mexico but has twice the population density.
        
           | dagw wrote:
           | _It 's about the size of New Mexico_
           | 
           | It is however much more spread out. Driving from the
           | northernmost to southern most town of New Mexico is ~700 km.
           | Driving from the southern most to northern most town of
           | Norway is over 2300 km, or about the same has from the
           | southernmost town of New Mexico to the Canadian border.
        
             | shkkmo wrote:
             | It's not about the max travelable distance in the country
             | but the max distance actually traveled for most trips. The
             | higher density (and population concentration in the south)
             | reduces the latter and makes maintaining a charging network
             | much more practical (their high adoption rate also help a
             | lot with that.)
             | 
             | Edit: The reason why this is the important measure is
             | because what people care about is how often their trips
             | require N charging stops not the maximum number of charging
             | stops they might have to make.
        
       | thomasfl wrote:
       | There's a huge price difference between electric cars and gas
       | fueled cars here in Norway. Gas fueled car buyers have to pay
       | both 25 percent VAT and an additional tax on purchase. Buyers
       | don't have to pay neither of those taxes if they buy an electric
       | car. The singer of the group A-ha, Morten Harket, bought an
       | electrical car in 1989 and refused to pay road tolls and ignored
       | all the subsequent fines. That got a lot of attention, and Norway
       | ended up having very affordable electrical cars compared to gas
       | fueled cars. Norway is one of Tesla's main market.
        
         | mfer wrote:
         | How is Norway handling the increased use of the electric grid?
         | I ask because Elon noted the US power grid needed to double
         | output to handle a full is transition
        
           | paultnylund wrote:
           | Last I heard, they actually have so much excess power that
           | they're selling it to the UK.
        
             | albertop wrote:
             | Do you know how they are generating electricity?
        
               | hackerNoose wrote:
               | Lots of cheap hydro.
        
               | sdenton4 wrote:
               | Lots of water in them fjords:
               | 
               | https://www.statista.com/statistics/1025497/distribution-
               | of-...
               | 
               | 93 percent hydro, 4 percent wind, 2.5 percent thermal.
        
               | xyproto wrote:
               | Mostly hydroelectric. 98% renewable energy sources.
               | 
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Nor
               | way
        
             | xyproto wrote:
             | Yes, and the electricity trade may contribute to higher
             | prices for local consumers.
        
             | mbakke wrote:
             | Norway exports excess power most of the year. 71% over the
             | last three years according to this page:
             | 
             | https://www.statnett.no/for-aktorer-i-kraftbransjen/tall-
             | og-...
        
         | fortuna86 wrote:
         | > Norway is one of Tesla's main market.
         | 
         | This is also because they are a small, very rich country and
         | cannot be used as a comparison to others.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | Other stuff is free/reduced toll on roads, lots of free
         | charging, often cheaper parking on public spots, can use the
         | bus lanes in heavy traffic (probably soon going away now that
         | half the cars being electric would block the buses).
        
         | marvin wrote:
         | Would be interesting to eventually hear Elon Musk's thoughts on
         | Norway's role in Tesla's success. We were a very big market for
         | them in 2013-2018, one might suspect critical.
        
           | magicalhippo wrote:
           | With half the Teslas made going to Norway for quite a while,
           | I think indeed it was a key to their success.
           | 
           | Not just the numbers, but also the geography and climate.
           | Make a car that can be used for a long trip any time of the
           | year here, and you're set for most markets.
           | 
           | There's a reason why car makers come to Norway and Sweden to
           | test their new cars before launch.
        
         | mikewave wrote:
         | What was he driving in '89?
        
           | Koshkin wrote:
           | A converted Fiat Panda.
           | 
           | https://reasonstobecheerful.world/norway-gm-electric-cars-
           | mo...
        
         | iddan wrote:
         | That is a a great way of using social impact for the
         | environment. Celebs should really how can they actions like
         | this
        
           | 52-6F-62 wrote:
           | Neil Young made a similar effort:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LincVolt
        
         | tkbeili wrote:
         | Very interesting. In Canada, it will take years to recoup the
         | price difference for buying an electric car even with
         | government incentives. 25% VAT + Extra tax seems to work.
        
           | jszymborski wrote:
           | Agreed! We have subsidies for electric vehicles under a
           | certain price, but imo prices just get inflated to "what the
           | market is willing to pay" + "value of the subsidy"
        
             | dietr1ch wrote:
             | Isn't that intended? That extra revenue should also come
             | with extra pressure to deliver cost-efficient products as
             | new parties may want a share of that sweet subsidy.
             | Initially it may look like the subsidy is just throwing out
             | money, but if the subsidy is kept around for a while it
             | becomes a bounty for future competitors.
        
           | mikewave wrote:
           | That's mostly because of the lack of midmarket cars.
           | 
           | I bought a used sub-$20k electrical car a few months ago; it
           | can be done. The market needs pressure to create cars in that
           | price range; right now EVs are mostly luxury cars. Tesla is
           | not the car we should be aiming for; what we need are things
           | in the class of the E-Golf, Kia Niro, FFE, Fiat 500E etc.
           | that are the size of a Corolla and cost 20k CAD or less.
           | 
           | Until that's common on the market, the value proposition is
           | flawed and nobody is buying an electric car to save money
           | except for people who buy used cars that someone else has
           | eaten the depreciation on (like me), or people who drive a
           | LOT. Everyone else is basically buying these things as luxury
           | items, and the cost doesn't matter, especially when you can
           | get near-0% financing over 5+ years.....
        
             | _3u10 wrote:
             | Yeah, used EVs depreciate quickly. I'm comparing new Tesla
             | Plaids to the C8 Corvette and due to depreciation its
             | looking like the C8 will be much cheaper, and much more fun
             | to drive. The C8 will drop 30k in 5 years according to
             | C6/C7 data, whereas a Plaid will likely drop 70k. If I
             | spend less than $800 a month on fuel the C8 is cheaper.
             | 
             | Currently C8s are appreciating their first year, which is
             | really weird.
             | 
             | The Model S is really chonky at almost 5000 lbs, which is
             | the same as a 4Runner.
        
               | ytdytvhxgydvhh wrote:
               | > Currently C8s are appreciating their first year, which
               | is really weird.
               | 
               | Why is that weird? That seems typical for new, extremely
               | popular cars where supply isn't meeting demand. It
               | happened years ago with the PT Cruiser, and when Mini
               | (re-)entered the US market. It's happened with Teslas
               | too. Right now it's happening with the C8 Corvette and
               | Ford Bronco, which are both really tough to find on
               | dealer lots. In 5 or 10 years, they'll have depreciated
               | like more typical used cars. The tough part is guessing
               | when supply will become sufficient (and values will
               | drop).
        
               | TaylorAlexander wrote:
               | Please donate to your local food bank. Many people are
               | hungry. You can help. Perhaps this one is local to you:
               | 
               | https://www.accfb.org/
        
               | _3u10 wrote:
               | Great idea thanks for the suggestion, however, I'll keep
               | people employed instead so they don't need the food bank.
               | 
               | "I believe the best social program is a job." -- Ronald
               | Reagan
        
               | zipswitch wrote:
               | Jobs are a _cost_.
               | 
               | Jobs are necessary to maintain our society and
               | civilization, but they are not a positive good in and of
               | themselves.
        
               | et2o wrote:
               | Young tech employees with valuable transferable skills
               | vs. typical food bank user (not meant as a slight!) are
               | different populations most likely.
        
               | filoleg wrote:
               | > _Yeah, used EVs depreciate quickly._
               | 
               | Yeah, not sure about that. Currently, used Model 3 LR AWD
               | from 2019 with around 10k-20k mileage go for just a few
               | grand cheaper than what I bought it for (new) in 2019[0].
               | 
               | 0. https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-2019-Tesla-
               | Model-3-Long...
        
             | neutronicus wrote:
             | You also need to make it realistic for people to own EVs
             | without also owning a single-family home. My wife and I
             | probably would have bought a PHEV, but we lived in an
             | apartment so ... we went Hybrid instead.
             | 
             | As it is the EV subsidies are really just helping
             | homeowners buy luxury cars which seems a little backwards
        
               | et2o wrote:
               | This is a great point. I would have loved to buy an EV
               | (or trade in my current gas vehicle which I don't use all
               | that much for an EV), but the logistical annoyances of
               | charging it in a busy city appear to be substantial.
        
           | pmalynin wrote:
           | And especially now with the added burden of the "luxury" car
           | tax.
        
             | _3u10 wrote:
             | The luxury car tax doesn't really apply to new cars. If the
             | seller is registered with the govt as a seller of luxury
             | goods then it does not apply.
             | 
             | https://www.canada.ca/en/department-
             | finance/programs/consult...
        
           | nereye wrote:
           | And in parts of Canada apparently you have to pay additional
           | taxes if you buy an EV, i.e. there are disincentives as
           | opposed to incentives. Sold as being an effort to balance the
           | lack of revenue from EVs skipping the various taxes on gas.
           | E.g.: https://electrek.co/2021/10/04/canadian-group-
           | satirizes-sask....
        
         | tclancy wrote:
         | The petroleum industry should have sent that race driver with
         | the wrench to fix his little electric wagon.
        
         | ostenning wrote:
         | Meanwhile in Australia: electric cars are getting taxed more to
         | support the aging oil infrastructure
        
           | njovin wrote:
           | Similar in California and other states. The states typically
           | tax gasoline and since electrics don't use any they are
           | implementing special fees on electric vehicle purchases to
           | make up for lost revenue.
           | 
           | One would think that the savings in pollution (not only for
           | the car itself, but the transport of the fuel, pollution from
           | refineries, etc.) would offset any lost revenue from gas
           | taxes.
           | 
           | What makes this really nonsensical is that many states still
           | have electric vehicle rebates. They give you a rebate of a
           | few thousand dollars to reward you for buying an electric
           | vehicle but then charge you a few hundred dollars to punish
           | you for buying an electric vehicle.
        
             | no_butterscotch wrote:
             | Wow really?
             | 
             | I have a Tesla in CA and am only familiar with the electric
             | vehicle credit (not sure what it is, I haven't looked into
             | it) and the "you get to use carpool lanes" rule for EVs.
             | 
             | Otherwise, I'm not familiar with extra taxes :(
        
             | fdr wrote:
             | EVs still drive on roads.
        
               | sdenton4 wrote:
               | Roads? Where were going we don't need... Well, ok, I
               | guess the future didn't work out that way after all.
        
             | SomeCallMeTim wrote:
             | In Colorado at least it's not that high. $50 plus a small
             | amount (today) that goes up over time to no more than $96
             | in the 2031-2032 fiscal year.
             | 
             | It's CERTAINLY a lot less than you'd be paying in gas tax
             | if you used your car an average amount.
             | 
             | Taxes aren't punishment, anyway. Especially "road use
             | taxes", which are, in this case, used to repair the roads
             | you're driving on.
             | 
             | [1] https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/11486
        
       | anonporridge wrote:
       | It will be interesting if there comes a point where ICE vehicles
       | are such a small minority of all vehicles, that supporting
       | infrastructure (petrol stations, traditional mechanics, oil
       | change services, etc) starts to collapse and disappear.
       | 
       | There may still be some infrastructure for special use cases like
       | long haul trucking or industrial vehicles, but it might become
       | untenable for the average consumer to own an ICE vehicle, just
       | like it was painfully difficult to own an EV before charging
       | stations became widespread.
       | 
       | When that happens, it could further accelerate the
       | decommissioning of old vehicles.
        
         | doublesocket wrote:
         | The UK's recent fuel shortages have apparently spurred on EV
         | sales so this seems likely.
        
           | anonporridge wrote:
           | This makes me wonder if the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack
           | indirectly led to an acceleration of EV adoption.
           | 
           | All of these events make more and more people recognize the
           | relative weakness and fragility of an oil based civilization
           | compared to an electric one.
        
       | bellyfullofbac wrote:
       | On the topic of Norwegian oil, a fascinating story of an Iraqi
       | who helped them deal with being an oil-producing nation:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20100123225932/http://www.ft.com...
       | 
       | He was an oil expert who met a Norwegian au-pair in London, they
       | got together, married, had a sick kid so they decided to move to
       | Norway, and because he had the whole day before he could take the
       | train from Oslo to her hometown, he decided to visit the Ministry
       | of Industry to get leads on oil jobs...
        
         | jezzzabell wrote:
         | That was a great read, thanks. I loved that they highlighted
         | the role of a proper regulatory body as a key factor in the
         | success of the oil industry in Norway.
        
       | LatteLazy wrote:
       | There has been a similar big bump in the uk (to 17% not 100 but
       | still...). How much of this is that a lot of legacy companies
       | can't produce anything because they can't get chips?
        
         | noselasd wrote:
         | Most EVs sold are produced by legacy companies
        
       | riazrizvi wrote:
       | Norway produces over 93% of its electricity from hydroelectric
       | sources and the rest from wind and thermal ones.
       | 
       | I think they have just become the first country to unlock this
       | tech IRL Civ.
        
       | overkill28 wrote:
       | There are some serious caveats here:
       | 
       | > seven out of every eight cars bought and sold in Norway a used
       | car. The NAF's numbers show that of the 357,176 ownership
       | registration changes so far in 2021, electric vehicles only
       | accounted for 12 per cent.
       | 
       | And their definition of electric cars includes hybrids (whereas I
       | think most people interpret it to mean fully electric). So
       | they're obviously doing great but the vast majority of the
       | vehicles in Norway are still ICE only.
        
       | lonelyasacloud wrote:
       | It's good that Norway may hit 100% electric EV. But with ~20% of
       | their economy based on oil and gas production, it's hard not to
       | think of it being funded largely by exporting pollution
       | elsewhere.
        
       | guerby wrote:
       | Warning probable pro tesla bias but here is a video about market
       | for EV in other countries than Norway:
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJpLm0uuVgA
       | 
       | "When will we have 100% EV adoption ? Norway was NOT fast,
       | compared to what is coming." BestInTESLA
        
       | WalterBright wrote:
       | 20% of Norway's GDP comes from pumping oil out of the ground and
       | selling it for others to burn. If they were really green that
       | would stop.
        
         | dtech wrote:
         | At least they are using that money for citizens and green
         | energy instead of Ferrari's of the royal family
        
           | AustinDev wrote:
           | Ferarris don't contribute at all to global warming
           | relatively. The many Gulfstream's and 747's the wealthy own
           | are actually statistically significant in terms of impact.
        
             | ResearchCode wrote:
             | Neither do all but a few countries.
        
             | toomuchtodo wrote:
             | The House of Saud, for some time, has attempted and failed
             | to diversify away from oil wealth for when the time comes
             | they can no longer rely on it. Norway, arguably, will reach
             | that point soon (as they've bootstrapped electric mobility
             | and can now deprecate existing petroleum supply chains,
             | both for domestic use and for export).
             | 
             | Be like Norway and use the time you have left selling a
             | natural resource wisely, because bans and cross border
             | tariffs are coming, and you'll be left with what you could
             | build during your transition when the revenue dries up.
             | Hopefully as a country, you don't end up empty handed.
             | 
             | (Norway also supplies the UK with a large amount of clean
             | hydro power, roughly 690MW continuous, through a newly
             | commissioned underwater HVDC transmission line, so it's not
             | all dirty fossil exports)
        
             | Le_Dook wrote:
             | Heck, I know they're hybrids but just look formula one. The
             | total emissions of every car, from all sessions at every
             | single race in a year combined produce less emissions than
             | a one way flight from London to New York. Which is then
             | completed negated by the fact that the drivers all take
             | private jets around the world
        
               | dd444fgdfg wrote:
               | i don't think that's a good comparison. think how many
               | flights a single F1 race "causes". Not just the team
               | members, theirs cars and equipment, but the millions of
               | fans traveling to races around the world.
        
           | bogomipz wrote:
           | That seems like an odd concession given that the need to
           | curtail the burning of fossil fuels is literally a global
           | concern.
        
         | thomasfl wrote:
         | As a Norwegian I totally agree with you. It is not just
         | unethical, but stupid to invest so much in searching for new
         | old fields. When demand for oil drops, Norway could have a
         | Kodak moment.
        
           | r00fus wrote:
           | Norway has a sovereign wealth fund (valuation: 1.4T in USD)
           | that is setup specifically for this eventuality.
           | 
           | Many large oil exporting countries know the good times won't
           | last, and are planning for it.
        
             | ars wrote:
             | > Norway has a sovereign wealth fund (valuation: 1.4T in
             | USD) that is setup specifically for this eventuality.
             | 
             | That's not much - $25K per person over 10 years, and with
             | an average income of $70K per person, and something like
             | half of their economy is energy (most if not all social
             | programs are funded from energy production).
             | 
             | If oil were to stop tomorrow, they'd have around 10 years
             | before the money runs out. (Maybe a bit longer since kids
             | don't earn money.) And if they have to replace all the
             | social funding, they'd have even less time.
             | 
             | Norway is relying on slow reduction in demand, and time to
             | transition their economy. Will they have it? It's far from
             | certain. I feel like Norwegians rely too much on this fund
             | to save themselves, rather than transitioning away from oil
             | now.
        
           | jalk wrote:
           | How large is the Oil Fund these days (after Corona spending)
           | 1 trillion USD or something like that - you'll be fine
        
             | magicalhippo wrote:
             | > How large is the Oil Fund these days
             | 
             | They got a "live" counter here[1], so yeah around 1.3
             | trillion USD give or take. Estimates for corona spending is
             | around 80 billion USD[2].
             | 
             | [1]: https://www.nbim.no/en/
             | 
             | [2]: https://www.nettavisen.no/okonomi/regjeringen-advarer-
             | oljefo...
        
               | bellyfullofbac wrote:
               | Geezus, must be nice to have that kind of rainy day fund.
               | Grossly over-simplifed: "Shut down the economy? Oh well,
               | here's 80 billion dollars to keep everyone fed and warm."
        
               | eptcyka wrote:
               | A country can't sustain itself on cash alone. Human
               | capital and infrastructure is vital.
        
               | ars wrote:
               | For a few years. But divide that fund by the population
               | and it suddenly doesn't seem as much.
               | 
               | Human capital is far more valuable, but most of the
               | industrial knowledge of Norway is in energy production.
        
             | jonsen wrote:
             | If the world remains able and willing to pay it back. It's
             | mostly invested abroad.
        
         | takk309 wrote:
         | How much oil is needed to produce a single electric vehicle?
         | What I am getting at is we will need oil extraction for a long
         | time. While we can move away from burning it for heat, we still
         | need it for the production of most plastics. This doesn't even
         | begin to touch on oil's use in the extraction process of all
         | the other metals used in car production.
         | 
         | We also need oil for road building. I don't see that changing
         | anytime either. After all, asphalt production produces far
         | fewer greenhouse gasses than cement. Concrete roads have their
         | place but the vast majority of road miles will be made with
         | asphalt for the near future.
        
           | arghwhat wrote:
           | Asphalt is itself very energy inefficient, and finding a
           | replacement is rather important. Quoting kurzgesagt, the
           | impact if manufacturing an electric car is equal to just two
           | meters of asphalt road.
        
             | takk309 wrote:
             | On top of that, asphalt is very easy to recycle and is
             | likely the most recycled material on the planet by weight.
             | My original point was that we will still need to extract
             | some oil for a long time into the future.
        
           | lm28469 wrote:
           | Given that all the plastics and most synthetic fabrics are
           | petrol derivatives I don't think it'll ever die.
           | 
           | 90% of everything in your direct line of sight probably
           | contain petrol derivatives. From wall paint to shampoo, your
           | t-shirt, phone, chewing gums, toothpaste, rugs, shoes... We
           | just can't sustain our modern lifestyle without it
        
         | thatwasunusual wrote:
         | > 20% of Norway's GDP comes from pumping oil out of the ground
         | and selling it for others to burn.
         | 
         | To be precise, it's 14%, down from 26% in 2008.[0]
         | 
         | [0] https://e24.no/norsk-oekonomi/i/dOXzd1/norge-er-mindre-
         | oljea...
        
         | tdeck wrote:
         | This is a major plot point in the excellent fictional series
         | Occupied, which is worth a watch on Netflix.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | belltaco wrote:
         | Stopping it would be useless, it'd just increase production
         | from oil wells of other countries. They could invest that money
         | into accelerating green technology.
        
           | kmonsen wrote:
           | That's not useless though. It would drive the price up making
           | it easier to scale up on renewables.
        
             | bdamm wrote:
             | Only if there was a large pact of countries doing so. But
             | even that would be dubious, since OPEC and other groups
             | would just increase production. Also there are many oil
             | resources that can be tapped with a slight increase in the
             | prices, so really Norway would just be handing production
             | over to countries like Canada, where local governments
             | would be only too eager to sell the more expensive product.
        
             | mensetmanusman wrote:
             | That is under the assumption oil revenues aren't
             | efficiently spent on speeding the green transition.
        
           | cecilpl2 wrote:
           | To a first order effect, stopping production would decrease
           | supply, increasing price, and therefore decreasing demand and
           | therefore overall oil usage, shifting some energy to
           | alternative sources.
           | 
           | Of course second order effects might dwarf that, like the
           | fact that increasing prices would incentivize oil extraction
           | in currently unprofitable locations. That extraction may or
           | may not be more carbon-intensive than Norway's (though
           | probably more if it's currently unprofitable).
           | 
           | It sounds punchy to say "Norway should stop extracting oil"
           | as much as it does to say "It doesn't matter whether they do
           | or not since someone else will", but the reality is much more
           | complex than either of those simplistic zeroth-order
           | approximations.
        
             | Retric wrote:
             | Infrastructure takes time to build. A short term price hike
             | in oil costs isn't going to change how many cars Tesla can
             | manufacture tomorrow. Near term you can build up
             | infrastructure to extract more oil from the same well
             | faster than you can build a new car factory.
             | 
             | The only real change from such a policy is how quickly
             | wells will run dry, but I hope we can abandon oil long
             | before running out is a serious concern.
        
             | mikewave wrote:
             | Precisely. If oil prices get high enough, the Canadian oil
             | sands will begin to be a profitable operation again, and
             | will scale back up to take advantage. At this point, while
             | we're still weaning off of oil - for probably the next 50
             | years - we need the lowest carbon, least cannibalistic
             | sources of it possible.
        
           | WalterBright wrote:
           | Gotta start somewhere. After all, Norway switching to all-
           | electric cars also won't make a significant reduction in
           | worldwide CO2.
           | 
           | Sure, other wells will produce more. But at a higher price.
           | Higher prices encourage use of greener alternatives.
        
       | bellyfullofbac wrote:
       | What a weird forecast, this is like saying "Bitcoin will hit
       | $100k in 3 months." by looking at the price graph. Since people
       | will still be allowed to buy such cars so far, I doubt 100% will
       | ever be reached...
        
         | oleganza wrote:
         | Actually, Bitcoin is likely to hit $100K in about 3 months.
        
       | findthewords wrote:
       | In other words, the market is saturated?
        
       | andrenth wrote:
       | Does anyone have a pointer to studies on the effects of electric
       | vehicles in the used car market?
       | 
       | I ask because the lifespan of current batteries seems to be
       | around 8 years (going by manufacturers' warranties), and the
       | battery pack amounts to approximately 30% of the price of the
       | car. So people buying an used electric car will likely face a
       | large maintenance cost after a while.
        
         | jdofaz wrote:
         | There are a handful of independent shops that can repair a
         | battery for much less than full replacement cost. I think that
         | will get better as EVs become more common.
        
         | andreer wrote:
         | I don't think it's too different from an ICE car. Based on what
         | I've seen in the used car market here in Norway it seems much
         | the same.
         | 
         | Applying the same logic, The lifespan of an internal combustion
         | engine seems to be around 5 years (going by manufacturers
         | warranties), and the cost is probably not too far off from 30%
         | of the car there either.
         | 
         | And having also owned an aging diesel powered car, I can
         | promise you there were definitely increasing maintenance costs
         | with that too!
        
         | The_Beta wrote:
         | Best I could find with a quick search. I think it's still too
         | early for a proper study.
         | 
         | https://insideevs.com/news/405885/tesla-model-s-battery-afte...
         | 
         | https://electrek.co/2020/06/06/tesla-battery-degradation-rep...
         | 
         | https://www.findmyelectric.com/blog/how-long-does-a-tesla-ba...
        
         | Swenrekcah wrote:
         | Unless they programmed it to go bad as soon as the warranty
         | expires I wouldn't be so worried about it. The Tesla model S is
         | about 8 years old now for the earliest models and I don't think
         | I've heard about them going bad.
        
         | jsight wrote:
         | I think that would cause them to drop by ~70% over 8 years, at
         | least for normal to high mileage examples. I'm not sure if this
         | is actually any worse than what would be typical for an ICE
         | vehicle, though?
        
         | codazoda wrote:
         | I've seen a stat that most cars only last 10 years in the US.
         | If that's because we crash or destroy them than the problem is
         | almost non-existent. I own a 25 year old truck but they aren't
         | very common, so I assume that's just anecdotal. I'm also not
         | sure if that stat included trucks. I can't find it to reference
         | it.
        
         | ajross wrote:
         | That's off. A typical new EV gets ~250 miles of real world
         | range on a full charge and has a battery with very similar
         | chemistry[1] to what you have in your phone. So over a putative
         | 200k mile lifetime, it's going to see about 800 cycles
         | (2e5/250) of battery usage.
         | 
         | 800 cycles is about what a typical mobile phone sees in two
         | years, after which most are seeing some moderate degradation
         | (70% of new condition is fairly typical) but are still quite
         | usable. And in fact a car spends much more of its time being
         | recharged well before reaching full discharge (where consumer
         | electronics runs dead a lot), so it would be expected to do
         | somewhat better.
         | 
         | It's not really a problem, basically.
         | 
         | [1] Though we're seeing an increasing number of vehicles
         | delivered with LiFePO4 cells. This chemistry has somewhat lower
         | energy density and higher internal resistance, but has the
         | advantage of an estimaged _hundreds of thousands_ of cycles
         | lifetime. Those will never wear out until long after the
         | mechanical parts are dust.
        
           | robotresearcher wrote:
           | These new cells give the possibility of being recycled and
           | rebuilt into a few cars in a row. Would be great for the
           | single most expensive component of an electric car to be used
           | over, maybe dropping performance/cost class as they go.
        
         | magicalhippo wrote:
         | Like changing a broken automatic transmission is a cheap thing.
         | 
         | That happened to a friend of mine, who was quoted around 50k
         | NOK (~6k USD) of a car he bought used for twice that.
         | Fortunately for him, it turned out there was one week left of
         | the 5-year "new car" warranty so he didn't have to pay after
         | all, but that was sheer luck.
        
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