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JESSHEIM: "rekkevideangst," or "range anxiety," is a term used by Norwegian electric car drivers to describe how they feel when they stare nervously at their battery indicators while driving in subfreezing temperatures.
Tesla owner Philip Benassi has felt it on frigid winter days, but, like many Norwegians, he has learnt to live with it.
With temperatures frequently dropping below zero, harsh terrain, and lengthy miles of desolate road, Norway may not appear to be the best spot to drive an electric car, whose battery dies faster in cold weather.
Nonetheless, the country remains the clear global champion in zero-emission automobiles.
Last year, a record four out of every five new vehicles sold in Norway were electric, in a major oil-producing country that plans to phase out new fossil-fuel automobiles by 2025, a decade ahead of the European Union's planned prohibition.
According to figures released Wednesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, electric cars will account for 12.1% of new car sales in the EU in 2022, up from 9.1% the previous year.
Benassi made the leap in 2018.
The 38-year-old cosmetics salesperson clocks between 20,000 and 25,000 kilometres (12,400 and 15,500 miles) every year in his dazzling white Tesla S.
He experienced moments of terror, like most new electric car owners, when he saw the battery gauge dip swiftly, with the danger of it dropping to zero on a desolate country road.
"I wasn't familiar enough with the vehicle. But after all these years, I'm very sure I know how many kilowatts it requires, and I know that it fluctuates a lot depending on whether the car spent the night outside or in a garage "He said to AFP.
When parked outside in temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit), the automobile consumes much more battery power, according to Benassi.
"It takes a long time for it to return to normal consumption," he noted.
How much range electric cars lose over the winter depends on the model and how cold it gets.
"However, the following rules of thumb apply: a frost of roughly minus 10C will lower the working range by around a third compared to summer weather, and a severe frost (minus 20C or more) by up to half," said Vesa Linja-aho, a Finnish consultant.
"This effect may be minimised considerably by parking the automobile in a heated garage," he noted.
Stations for charging
Drivers must plan their routes ahead of time for long trips, but auto apps and Norway's huge network of over 5,600 fast and superfast charging stations make the process easier.
Last year, electric cars accounted for 54% of new car registrations in Finnmark, Norway's northernmost Arctic district where temperatures have dropped to minus 51 degrees Celsius - an indication that the cold problem is not insurmountable.
Other Nordic nations that routinely encounter cold weather lead the globe in electric vehicle sales, accounting for almost 33% of new car sales in Sweden and Iceland in 2022.
"Nowadays, more and more new electric vehicles have systems for pre-heating the batteries, which is quite clever because you gain longer range and because if your car is heated before you charge, it will also charge faster," said Christina Bu, executive director of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association.
Owners of electric vehicles are not the only ones who are concerned about the cold.
"In fact, if it's very, very cold — freezing temperatures — diesel engine automobiles sometimes can't start and an electric car starts," she explained.
'Anyone can do it'
More than 20% of automobiles on Norwegian roads are now electric — and green, with the electricity they need supplied nearly entirely by hydropower.
Norway's long-standing policy of tax breaks for electric vehicles has aided the changeover, though the government has moved to reverse some of the benefits in order to cover a roughly 40 billion kroner ($4 billion) budget shortfall last year.
There is "a simple answer to why we have this success in Norway, and that is green taxes," according to Bu.
"We tax what we don't want, namely fossil-fuel vehicles, and encourage what we do want, namely electric vehicles. That's all there is to it "She stated.
"If Norway can do it, everyone else can, too."
