Norway's new passenger cars were 98.7% zero-emission in August

Zero-emission vehicles took a 98.68% share of Norway's new passenger car registrations in August 2026, according to the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), up from 96.89% in August 2025. OFV describes the month as the highest single-month zero-emission share it has recorded; OFV's monthly reports for September 2025 through July 2026 show no month above 98.64%, April 2026's figure, and the year-to-date share stands at 97.77%, against 94.47% for the same period of 2025.

The record came in a shrinking market. OFV counts 13,451 new passenger cars registered in August, 466 fewer (a 3.35% drop) than in August 2025, and a year-to-date total of 96,463, down 2.56%. Per OFV's September 1, 2026 report, the decline is a Tesla decline: Tesla registered 2,387 fewer cars than in August 2025 while all other brands combined added 1,921, and with Tesla excluded the market grew 17%. Volkswagen was the month's largest brand and its ID.4 the top model, followed by the Toyota bZ4X and BMW iX3.

Vans are the remaining frontier. OFV reports 3,139 new vans in August, up 10.6% from August 2025, with electric vans at 44.9% of the month, below their 53.1% share for the year to date. The diesel share of new vans rose from 36.3% in the first half of August to 56.1% in the second half, ahead of a September 1, 2026 increase in the CO2 component of Norway's one-time registration tax on combustion-engine vans, which OFV says can add up to NOK 15,000 (about $1,600) for some models; OFV adds that the second-half diesel share was nonetheless slightly below the 57.1% of the same period in 2025. OFV director Geir Inge Stokke said the jump may indicate some registrations were brought forward, but that the main trend is still that electric vans are growing and make up more than half the market so far this year.

The Norwegian Parliament decided in 2017 that all new cars sold by 2025 should be zero-emission, per the Norwegian EV Association, which puts the fully electric share of new passenger cars sold in 2025 at 95.5%. Zero-emission in this usage means battery electric or hydrogen, per the association; OFV's base figures come from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.