The “concerning” way of framing these numbers would be to say that diesel car market share nearly tripled year over year, going from 1.5% in Jan 2025 to 4.4% in 2026, as EV sales dropped to about a quarter of their previous numbers. But that’s more a reflection of diesel car unit sales being so small as to be negligible, and EV unit sales being shifted forward into December instead of January.
98 diesel, 29 hybrids, 6 petrol, 2084 EVs. For the full perspective. Well done Norwegians
Would be interesting to see this compared to total car sales in a year - including used ones.
In a hypothetical where new cars get so expensive that most people are forced to buy used, you could still report “100% of new cars sold are electric” while more and more people quietly switch to cheaper used gas and diesel instead.
I don’t think that’s happening here, but it’s definitely something to consider.
I consider myself middle class, but I’d never buy a brand-new car - and even used electric trucks are way out of my price range. I drive a diesel because I have no option.
Used cars were all new cars at some point. In a place with 99% of new sales are EVs for an extended period of time, you’ll eventually get to where used non-EVs in decent condition aren’t affordable/obtainable. Especially when those people buying them are possibly disproportionately buying the non-EVs for ideological reasons and will hold on to them longer as non-EVs become more and more inaccessible.
How long before you can’t afford to maintain the diesel? I drove a diesel until rust caused the fuel tank to drop - I could still fix it but that is more than I have time to do myself and the cost is half way to a new car (i bought a 3 year old ev to get something nicer), with there lively being a similar amount of maintenance next year. I miss the ability to haul a 10000lbs but since nobody makes basic trucks anything I can afford was not much better (and thus only a few years from the same rust issues)
even if nobody bought a new car this year, used cars are all getting older and so it won’t be long before someone has to buy new just to get anything
Very true. Right now most cars are still petro and so stations are everywhere. The average car is about 12 years old and most poor people will choose to scrap them at around 25, so there are plenty of stations to meet the demand. However in a few years that average will not include enough petro to support as many stations - how will they respond is a question.
in 20 years petro will be a special order thing outside of a few niches. At least by current trends - perhaps some alternative will come and change everything, who knows.
That’s the other thing I like about electric. I am able to generate electricity on my property with solar panels. Can’t really refine oil into gasoline or diesel on my property.
Maybe you can’t but there are people with natural oil springs on their land who could. I don’t know any who do and the amount coming from the springs isn’t much, but they could.
ethanol fuel is done by a few people at home, it isn’t hard, just takes a lot of labor.
98 diesel, 29 hybrids, 6 petrol, 2084 EVs. For the full perspective. Well done Norwegians
Would be interesting to see this compared to total car sales in a year - including used ones.
In a hypothetical where new cars get so expensive that most people are forced to buy used, you could still report “100% of new cars sold are electric” while more and more people quietly switch to cheaper used gas and diesel instead.
I don’t think that’s happening here, but it’s definitely something to consider.
I consider myself middle class, but I’d never buy a brand-new car - and even used electric trucks are way out of my price range. I drive a diesel because I have no option.
Used cars were all new cars at some point. In a place with 99% of new sales are EVs for an extended period of time, you’ll eventually get to where used non-EVs in decent condition aren’t affordable/obtainable. Especially when those people buying them are possibly disproportionately buying the non-EVs for ideological reasons and will hold on to them longer as non-EVs become more and more inaccessible.
I still think it would be interesting to see those stats.
I think this is the first month without incentives for EVs or at least reduced amounts. So previous data would be a bit skewed.
How long before you can’t afford to maintain the diesel? I drove a diesel until rust caused the fuel tank to drop - I could still fix it but that is more than I have time to do myself and the cost is half way to a new car (i bought a 3 year old ev to get something nicer), with there lively being a similar amount of maintenance next year. I miss the ability to haul a 10000lbs but since nobody makes basic trucks anything I can afford was not much better (and thus only a few years from the same rust issues)
even if nobody bought a new car this year, used cars are all getting older and so it won’t be long before someone has to buy new just to get anything
Decades. That’s not really the point of what I’m saying though.
I think the bigger question is how long until you can’t get fuel without a hassle.
Very true. Right now most cars are still petro and so stations are everywhere. The average car is about 12 years old and most poor people will choose to scrap them at around 25, so there are plenty of stations to meet the demand. However in a few years that average will not include enough petro to support as many stations - how will they respond is a question.
in 20 years petro will be a special order thing outside of a few niches. At least by current trends - perhaps some alternative will come and change everything, who knows.
That’s the other thing I like about electric. I am able to generate electricity on my property with solar panels. Can’t really refine oil into gasoline or diesel on my property.
Maybe you can’t but there are people with natural oil springs on their land who could. I don’t know any who do and the amount coming from the springs isn’t much, but they could.
ethanol fuel is done by a few people at home, it isn’t hard, just takes a lot of labor.