The world’s electric car capital is having doubts

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

It’s November, which means it’s officially National Native American Heritage Month. To learn more about tribal sovereignty and events check here for updates from the Department of the Interior. 

Today, we’re talking about electric cars and providing some insight into the political situation in Israel.

—Rachel DuRose, Future Perfect fellow

Why Norway — the poster child for electric cars — is having second thoughts

A Tesla charging station in Skei, Norway. The country has the world’s highest rate of electric car adoption. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Motor vehicles generate nearly one-tenth of global CO2 emissions. In wealthy countries, strategies to mitigate this environmental impact often revolve around electrifying cars — and many countries are looking to Norway for inspiration.

The lowdown: Over the last decade, Norway has emerged as the world’s undisputed leader in electric vehicle (EV) adoption. With generous government incentives available, 87 percent of the country’s new car sales are now fully electric, a share that dwarfs the European Union (13 percent) and the United States (7 percent). 

But, this soaring EV adoption rate hasn’t solved all of Norway’s woes:

• Norway has always been a car-centric country. Norway has one of Europe’s lowest rates of public transportation usage and a higher car ownership rate than its Scandinavian neighbors. 

• The Norwegian government created financial incentives to increase EV adoption. In the 1990s, Norway made EVs exempt from the country’s steep taxes on car purchases — which today add an average of $27,000 to each sale — and made it so that EV owners did not have to pay for tolls, parking, or ferries. 

• However, these incentives benefitted affluent residents far more than non-affluent ones. Many low-income Norwegians do not own a car. The likelihood that a Norwegian household would purchase an EV rose 26 percent with each 100,000 Norwegian Krones (around $11,000) in annual income.

• Now, cities are rethinking their automobile-focused approach. Over the last decade, Oslo has joined Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger (Norway’s four largest cities) in committing to meet all future trip growth through transit, biking, and walking — not cars. 

The stakes: Ending the sales of gas-powered cars, as Norway is close to doing, is an essential step toward addressing climate change. However, a 2020 study found that even the most optimistic forecasts for global EV adoption would not prevent a catastrophic 2-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures. 

Reducing driving — not just gas-powered driving — is crucial. While EVs may not pollute the planet the way traditional gas guzzlers do, they still create a car-centric society, and leave little room (literally) for other even better, less polluting forms of transit such as walking and biking. 

Despite its generous incentives for electric cars, the Norwegian government provides no discounts for those buying e-bikes or e-cargo bikes (Oslo and Bergen offer limited programs for city residents). The country’s current 12-year National Transport Plan includes initiatives to catalyze the adoption of zero-emissions vehicles, but none to reduce car trips.

“The mistake is to think that EVs solve all your problems when it comes to transport,” said Tiina Ruohonen, a climate advisor to the mayor of Oslo. “They don’t.”

Read freelancer and visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government David Zipper’s full story here. 

Could Israel dump Netanyahu in the middle of a war?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 2023. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a non-zero risk of losing his job. Since the October 7 massacre by Hamas, Netanyahu’s poll numbers have been grim, with one October 2023 survey finding 80 percent of Israelis held him personally responsible for failing to prevent the attack.

• Netanyahu is the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history. He was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, and has led Israel for every year (save one) since 2009. 

• Before this war, Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary made him increasingly unpopular. The plan, which would have put new limits on court power, spawned the largest protest movement in Israeli history. Netanyahu says the overhaul is dead, at least during the war, but the resentment it created remains. 

• He fumbled the public response to the October 7 attacks. The day after the massacre by Hamas, Netanyahu sent out a tweet blaming Israel’s military and intelligence services (but not himself) for not stopping the massacre. He later deleted the post and apologized for the message.

• Netanyahu’s probably not going to resign. The next Israeli election isn’t scheduled for another three years, and it's unlikely Netanyahu will resign before then.

• If he goes, it’ll be because he’s forced out. If at least five members of Netanyahu’s pre-war governing coalition vote against him in the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament), he’d have to leave. Whether there’s enough anti-Netanyahu sentiment for lawmakers to take that step remains to be seen.

You can read senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp’s full piece here. 

If you have questions about the ongoing war, let us know here. And here’s where you can keep track of all our developing coverage.

• The first group of evacuees from Gaza crossed into Egypt today. The Qatari-mediated deal between Egypt, Israel, and Hamas will allow a number of foreigners and critically injured people to leave Gaza. [Reuters]

• The Cornell University student accused of making antisemitic threats online will appear in court today. The 21-year-old student threatened to “shoot up” the university’s predominantly kosher dining hall, 104 West. [CNN]

• Former President Donald Trump and three of his children will testify in the fraud trial against him. The New York attorney general began calling on members of the Trump family to testify in the civil trial that alleges fraud was knowingly committed by the Trump Organization and Trump himself. [NPR]

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It takes more than trees to build a livable city

The Supreme Court seems stumped by two cases about free speech online

What we know about the ongoing hostage crisis in Gaza

Today’s crossword

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