This represents two percent of the country’s total car market, and makes the LEAF Norway’s ninth-best-selling passenger car.

Watch out, sunny California. Snowy Norway may grab the coveted title of the world’s EV capital. Nissan announced this week that it has sold 1000 LEAFs in the Nordic nation, just six months after the car went on sale. This represents two percent of the country’s total car market, and makes the LEAF Norway’s ninth-best-selling passenger car.

According to Nissan, Norway has the highest level of support for EVs in Europe. EVs (but not PHEVs) are exempt from VAT taxes, the country’s hefty new car taxes, and most parking fees and tolls. In Oslo, they are even allowed to use bus lanes.

Although Norway is a large and sparsely-populated country, almost half of its five million people live in and around the capital, Oslo, a compact and EV-friendly city that has over 3,500 public charging stations, many of them free.

Olivier Paturet, Nissan’s Manager of Zero Emission Strategy for Europe, said, “we are very happy to see that the ambition of the Norwegian government has matched our own with strong support for the widespread introduction of electric vehicles. The Norwegian package of incentives is unsurpassed and the recharging infrastructure is established and accessible. We can see that Norway is leading the way with its proactive approach to encouraging its citizens to drive electric vehicles. We hope it will continue with the further development and upgrading of the charging infrastructure.”

Nissan’s Country Manager for Norway Pål Simonsen, said, “LEAF has been a success for us and for the nine dealers that started selling the car last year, so it is a natural step for us to open up for sales from other Nissan dealers as well. We are extremely satisfied with our LEAF sales performance in Norway. In a short period of time LEAF became our second-best-selling model, proving that EVs can be a valid and competitive alternative to combustion engine cars. We are absolutely committed to LEAF and we are working with our dealers on commercial strategy to go even further.”

Image: Nissan