The share of vehicles running on renewable energy on Icelandic roads continues to grow. Electric cars, hybrids and cars running on domestically produced methane made up 24.3% of all new cars registered in the second quarter of 2017. Nearly all of these are electric vehicles. Their share has doubled since last year when electric vehicles made up 11% of new registrations.
Switching from fossil fuels to renewables in transportation is crucial if Iceland wishes to meet the goals of the Paris accords. Fossil fuels are only used for transportation in Iceland, as 99.99% of all electricity is produced with renewables. Reduction of carbon emissions will therefore have to focus on switching the transportation system to electricity.
Read more: Iceland meets only 0.01% of it's electricity needs with fossil fuels, 99.99% from renewables
Sigurður Ingi Friðleifsson, the manager of Orkusetur, a non-profit which tracks the energy market and promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, told the National Broadcasting Service that the future of electric cars in Iceland appears to be very bright not least because of a dramatic change in consumer preferences: I think that very soon people will feel it's retrograde to operate a car which you can't plug in, and when we reach that point there is no turning back.
Sigurður Ingi argues that to speed up this transition the government must take further steps to make electric vehicles more appealing to consumers. Electric cars currently pay no import duties or sales taxes, but these subsidies have to be re-approved each year. Environmentalists have called for them being made permanent.
Read more: 200 new charging stations for electric cars to be added
Another step which environmentalists have called for is an aggressive push to increase charging stations around the Ring Road. Most charging stations are currently located in Reykjavík and a handful of other urban areas.
The share of vehicles running on renewable energy on Icelandic roads continues to grow. Electric cars, hybrids and cars running on domestically produced methane made up 24.3% of all new cars registered in the second quarter of 2017. Nearly all of these are electric vehicles. Their share has doubled since last year when electric vehicles made up 11% of new registrations.
Switching from fossil fuels to renewables in transportation is crucial if Iceland wishes to meet the goals of the Paris accords. Fossil fuels are only used for transportation in Iceland, as 99.99% of all electricity is produced with renewables. Reduction of carbon emissions will therefore have to focus on switching the transportation system to electricity.
Read more: Iceland meets only 0.01% of it's electricity needs with fossil fuels, 99.99% from renewables
Sigurður Ingi Friðleifsson, the manager of Orkusetur, a non-profit which tracks the energy market and promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, told the National Broadcasting Service that the future of electric cars in Iceland appears to be very bright not least because of a dramatic change in consumer preferences: I think that very soon people will feel it's retrograde to operate a car which you can't plug in, and when we reach that point there is no turning back.
Sigurður Ingi argues that to speed up this transition the government must take further steps to make electric vehicles more appealing to consumers. Electric cars currently pay no import duties or sales taxes, but these subsidies have to be re-approved each year. Environmentalists have called for them being made permanent.
Read more: 200 new charging stations for electric cars to be added
Another step which environmentalists have called for is an aggressive push to increase charging stations around the Ring Road. Most charging stations are currently located in Reykjavík and a handful of other urban areas.
