Electric car sales in Norway took a 94 percent share of the market in August.
Statistics show that this is a new world record, while sales in the rest of Europe are stagnating, AFP reports.
Boosted by Tesla's Model Y, which accounted for 18.8 percent of sales, and to a lesser extent Hyundai's Kona and Nissan's Leaf, electric cars made up 94.3 percent of new car registrations, the Norwegian Road Federation said.
Norwegians bought 10,480 new electric cars in August, or a total of 68,435 since the start of the year.
In other parts of Europe, high prices and poor infrastructure have hampered sales of electric cars, while those of hybrid models, which combine fossil-fuel engines and battery electrics, have risen.
The Scandinavian country, a major oil and gas producer, has set a target of selling only zero-emission cars by 2025, 10 years earlier than the deadline set at EU level.
The country offers generous tax breaks, making electric cars competitively priced.
"No country in the world comes close to Norway in the race for electric cars. If this trend continues, we will soon be on track to meet our goal of 100% zero-emission cars by 2025," said Norwegian Road Federation director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen.
In comparison, electric cars were responsible for 12.1% of new car sales in the EU in July, behind petrol cars at 33.4%, hybrids at 32% and diesel at 12.6%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. | BGNES
