Professor Harald N Røstvik writes (“No stopping Norway’s embrace of electric vehicles”, Letters, February 3) that 82 per cent of all new vehicles in 2023 in Norway were electric and he seems to be surprised that this figure contrasts with the declining sales in neighbouring EU countries, as discussed in an earlier column by Simon Kuper (“Electric cars are not the future”, January 20).
Is he forgetting that Norway’s residential electricity (for recharging) costs, due to an abundance of hydropower, are about one half that of the average in the EU and almost one fourth that in the UK, Germany and Italy — not to mention California, where I live. I wish I could recharge with hydro for my Tesla instead of coal at the margin.
Phillip Hawley
La Jolla, CA, US
