FJORD TRANSIT

WE TAKE HYUNDAI’S NEW IONIQ 5 THROUGH NORWAY TO EXPERIENCE EV MOBILITY THE WAY IT SHOULD BE DONE

- DANIEL GARDNER

FRIGID RAIN IS pounding the granite cobblestones of Aker Brygge on a dreary Oslo Friday morning and the worsening conditions remind me why I left the northern hemisphere in search of warmer climes many years ago. But the wandering nostalgic train of thought is derailed by the arrival of photographer Adam. He’s alighting one of the 139-metre Basto Electric ferries that crisscross the Oslo Fjord, powered by a 4.3MWh (yes – megawatt) battery and dock with robotic fast chargers at either end of their passage. If this was Sydney Harbour, he’d be arriving on a floating antique powered by a pair of 14-litre MTU diesels that chug nearly four litres of dinosaur juice every minute. But this isn’t Australia, this is the world’s leading nation for transport electrification – Norway.