The news broke just a few days ago: in Norway, electric and hybrid cars have overtaken, if only just, petrol and diesel vehicles. Specifically, the percentage of zero-emission vehicles stands at around 51.4 per cent (17.6 per cent electric and 33.8 per cent hybrid), placing Norway in first position as the country with the highest number of EV vehicles in the world.

The record has been achieved thanks to targeted policies in favour of lower-emission vehicles, incentives and tax reductions. It is also worth noting that Norway is today the country where petrol costs the most of anywhere, at €1.95 per litre.

But what is undoubtedly also driving the uptake of electric vehicles is the rapid and widespread rollout of charging infrastructure. The latest, and certainly record-breaking, example is the Vulkan car park, in the centre of Oslo, which can accommodate 102 electric vehicles, with an equal number of charging posts. It is the largest charging station in Europe.

The record-breaking charging station

Built by Finnish company Fortum, a utility operating in the electricity and thermal energy sector, the Charge & Drive project resulted in an agreement with the local authority, which rented the space to the company and made the car park available during evening and night-time hours. Parking is free from 5pm until 9am the following morning on weekdays, while at weekends it is possible to leave a car charging from 5pm until 11am the following morning. The charging posts have been designed to operate in reverse mode as well: meaning drivers can choose to feed electricity back into the grid, perhaps while doing their shopping or having dinner at one of the nearby restaurants.

Furthermore, and this is the real novelty, in order to avoid stressing the electricity grid and to better manage energy flows, the Charge & Drive system also includes a 50 kWh battery, which kicks in during peak periods.

Fortum Charge & Drive @ForChargeDrive

𝕏

The biggest charging facility in Norway open! Over 100 #EV charging stations @Vulkanoslo. Check the video: youtu.be/75_gj0VgI4c

♥ 32 6 mar 2017 · Apri su X →

A corridor for electric vehicles

The Finnish group is working across Scandinavia to create a high-power corridor between the cities of Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki. By 2018 it will thus be possible to cover the 300 kilometres separating Helsinki from Oslo in the same time it would take in a petrol car. The charging posts are in fact designed to deliver between 150 and 300 kW of power. By way of comparison, Tesla's Superchargers operate at between 120 and 135 kW, allowing a car to be recharged in around 30 minutes. For a glimpse into the future of electric mobility, Oslo and Norway are certainly the right place to look, thanks to the 100,000 electric vehicles currently on the road.