From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   In Norway, the Electric Vehicle Future Has Already Arrived   
   By Jack Ewing, May 8, 2023, NY Times   
      
   A few feet from a 6-lane highway that skirts Oslo’s waterfront, metal pipes   
   jut from the roof of a prefabricated shed. The building measures pollution   
   from the traffic zooming by, a stone's throw from a bicycle path and a marina.   
      
   Levels of nitrogen oxides, byproducts of burning gasoline and diesel that   
   cause smog, asthma and other ailments, have fallen sharply as electric vehicle   
   ownership has risen. “We are on the verge of solving the NOx problem,”   
   said Tobias Wolf, Oslo’s    
   chief engineer for air quality, referring to nitrogen oxides.   
      
   But there is still a problem where the rubber meets the road. Oslo’s air has   
   unhealthy levels of microscopic particles generated partly by the abrasion of   
   tires and asphalt. Electric vehicles, which account for about one-third of the   
   registered    
   vehicles in the city but a higher proportion of traffic, may even aggravate   
   that problem.   
      
   “They’re really a lot heavier than internal combustion engine cars, and   
   that means that they are causing more abrasion,” said Mr. Wolf, who, like   
   many Oslo residents, prefers to get around by bicycle.   
      
   Another persistent problem: Apartment residents say finding a place to plug in   
   their cars remains a challenge. In the basement of an Oslo restaurant   
   recently, local lawmakers and residents gathered to discuss the issue.   
      
   Sirin Hellvin Stav, Oslo’s vice mayor for environment and transport, said at   
   the event that the city wants to install more public chargers but also reduce   
   the number of cars by a third to make streets safer and free space for walking   
   and cycling.   
      
   “The goal is to cut emissions, which is why E.V.s are so important, but also   
   to make the city better to live in,” Ms. Stav, a member of the Green Party,   
   said in an interview later.   
      
   Electric vehicles are part of a broader plan by Oslo to reduce its carbon   
   dioxide emissions to almost zero by 2030. All city buses will be electric by   
   the end of the year.   
      
   Oslo is also targeting construction, the source of over 1/4 of its greenhouse   
   gas emissions. Contractors bidding on public projects have a better chance of   
   winning if they use equipment that runs on electricity or biofuels.   
      
   At a park in a working-class Oslo neighborhood last month, an excavator   
   scooped out earth for a decorative pond. A thick cable connected the excavator   
   to a power source, driving its electric motor. Later, an electric dump truck   
   hauled away the soil.   
      
   Normally, the crew would have been required to stop working when the children   
   in a nearby kindergarten napped. But the electric equipment was quiet enough   
   that work could continue. (Children in Norway nap outdoors, weather   
   permitting.)   
      
   Espen Hauge, who manages city construction projects, said he was surprised at   
   how quickly contractors substituted hard-to-find electric equipment for diesel   
   machinery. “Some projects that we thought were impossible or very difficult   
   to do zero emission,   
    we still got the tender for zero emission,” he said.   
      
   Ms. Stav acknowledged what she called the hypocrisy of Norway’s drive to   
   reduce greenhouse gases while producing lots of oil and gas. Fossil-fuel   
   exports generated revenue of $180 billion last year. “We’re exporting that   
   pollution,” Ms. Stav said,   
    noting that her party has called for oil and gas production to be phased out   
   by 2035.   
      
   But Norway’s govt has not pulled back on oil and gas production. “We have   
   several fields in production, or under development, providing energy security   
   to Europe,” Amund Vik, state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of   
   Petroleum and Energy, said    
   in a statement.   
      
   Elsewhere, Norway’s power grid has held up fine even with more demand for   
   electricity. It helps that the country has abundant hydropower. Even so,   
   electric vehicles have increased the demand for electricity modestly,   
   according to calculations by the E.   
   V. Association, and most owners are charging cars at night, when demand is   
   lower and power is cheaper.   
      
   Elvia, which supplies electricity to Oslo and the surrounding area, has had to   
   install new substations and transformers in some places, said Anne Nysæther,   
   the company’s managing director. But, she added, “we haven’t seen any   
   issue of the grid    
   collapsing.”   
      
   Nor has there been a rise in unemployment among auto mechanics. E.V.'s don't   
   need oil changes and require less maintenance than gasoline cars, but they   
   still break down. And there are plenty of gasoline cars that will need   
   maintenance for years.   
      
   Sindre Dranberg, who has worked at a Volkswagen dealership in Oslo since the   
   1980s, underwent training to service electric-vehicle batteries. Was it   
   difficult to make the switch? “No,” he said, as he replaced defective   
   cells in a Volkswagen e-Golf.   
      
   Electric vehicles are creating jobs in other industries. In Fredrikstad, 55   
   miles south of Oslo, a former steel plant has become a battery recycling   
   center. Workers, including some who worked at the steel plant, dismantle   
   battery packs. A machine then    
   shreds the packs to separate plastic, aluminum and copper from a black mass   
   that contains crucial ingredients such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese   
   and graphite.   
      
   The factory, owned by Hydrovolt, is the first of several the company plans to   
   build in Europe and the United States. So far, there is not much to recycle,   
   but eventually recycled batteries could greatly reduce the need for mining.   
      
   “If we can take the active material that already is within the product and   
   create new ones, then we create a shortcut,” said Peter Qvarfordt, the chief   
   executive of Hydrovolt, a joint venture of the aluminum producer Norsk Hydro   
   and Northvolt, a    
   battery maker.   
      
   If anyone has to worry about their jobs, it’s car dealers. The almost   
   complete disappearance of gasoline and diesel vehicles from showrooms has   
   reordered the industry.   
      
   The Moller Mobility Group has long been Norway’s biggest auto retailer, with   
   sales last year of $3.7 billion and dealerships in Sweden and the Baltic   
   countries. Moller’s Oslo outlet is filled with electric Volkswagens like the   
   ID.4 and the ID.Buzz.    
   There are only a few internal combustion cars.   
      
   Yet, Tesla is greatly outselling Volkswagen in Norway, grabbing 30% of the   
   market compared to 19% for Volkswagen and its Skoda and Audi brands, according   
   to the Road Information Council.   
      
      
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