Capital of EVs turns gaze to electric planes

There are dozens of short daily flights to Norway's islands, and the oil-producing Scandinavian country wants them to be electric-powered, write Lynsey Chutel and Henrik Pryser Libell from Norway

- Lynsey Chutel and Henrik Pryser Libell

As the smooth, white dragonfly of an aircraft flew over the Norwegian coastline, only a low hum could be heard from its engine.

On its tail, a single propeller spun as it soared over fjords, forested hills and salmon farms in the North Sea. Powered by electricity, the Alia CX 300 passed lonely islands, the type of locations that Norway hopes this plane could one day soon connect.

The test flight was the first time an electric plane had flown from one major city to another in Norway, showing that the Scandinavian country is eager to get on board with electric flight.

Norway is Europe's largest oil producer outside of Russia, producing the equivalent of two million barrels a day, most of which it sells to its neighbours in Western Europe, according to its ministry of energy. It is also the world’s fourth-largest natural gas exporter, reaching record volumes last year.

But Norway is also planning for a future of diminishing petroleum revenue, by investing some of its $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund in green energy. More than half of the oil and gas deposits on the Norwegian continental shelf have already been extracted, and without the discovery of new fields, production is expected to begin falling within the next decade.

Now it is aggressively pursuing a nationwide electrification campaign as it tries to reach net-zero emissions — most of its domestic electricity is already green, and some of its oil and gas fields are already powered by electricity. The country has made the most gains in the transport sector: Last year, nearly 90% of the new cars sold here were electric, one of the highest adoption rates in the world.

By electrifying its transportation system, Norway is able to meet its climate goals with little effect to the oil and gas industry, said Thina Margrethe Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea, a Nordic bank.