News
Tesla and EV dominance in Norway causes shortage of fossil fuel cars to tax
Tesla and other electric vehicles are beginning to dominate the roads in Norway, leaving very few internal combustion engine (ICE) cars to tax. The “problem” has been long foreseen by those supporting the EV revolution. As one of the first countries to face the challenge, Norway might set an example for future nations on how to handle EV dominance.
Last month, 11,579 new passenger cars were registered in Norway, 1,369 (-10.6%) fewer cars compared to October 2020, as per the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV).
Zero-emission cars made up 70.1% of the auto market in Norway last month, with a total of 8,116 new registrations, up +3.1% year-over-year. The total used imported zero-emission cars registered in October went up +62.4%, too.
The EV transition has created a gaping hole in Norways’s annual revenue. According to the previous Norwegian government—a center-right coalition which was replaced with a center-left minority government in October—EV dominance was creating a $2.32 billion hole in Norway’s annual revenue.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Norway implemented rules that provided EVs with exemptions. For instance, EVs were exempted from all toll charges and parking fees. EVs were also allowed to skip traffic by using bus lanes. People who purchased new EVs were exempted from paying hefty taxes like VAT and purchase tax as well. All the policies probably contributed to the transition from ICE vehicles to EV cars today.
However, EV cars have now gained dominance over Norwegian roads, leaving a vital source of income for the government nearly dried up. Only over 400 new petrol passenger cars and about 300 diesel engine vehicles were registered in October 2021. The marketshare of petrol cars went down from 5.9% in October 2020 to 3.7% last month. The marketshare of diesel engine vehicles also went down from 5.5% in October 2020 to 2.6% this October. Hybrid vehicles took 23.6% marketshare last month, down 27.8% compared to the same time in 2020.
With fossil fuel cars getting extinct in Norway, the government is thinking of stripping electric vehicles from their exemptions. There seems to be a consensus between Norwegian car associations and environmental groups that four tax policies will come back.
First, the government may tax plug-in hybrids, which may actually encourage new car buyers to purchase zero-emission or all-electric vehicles. A tax for second-hand EV sales might be implemented as well. The Norwegian government could also introduce a tax for luxury EVs that cost more than $68,650. Lastly, an annual ownership tax for EVs could be resurrected.
Labor Party MP Frode Jacobsen confirmed with WIRED that current proposals include taxes for some plug-in hybrids during budget discussions in the government. He also assured that luxury EV taxes will not be part of next year’s budget.
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News
Anti-Tesla union leader ditches X, urges use of Threads instead
Tesla Sweden and IF Metall have been engaged in a bitter dispute for over two years now.
Marie Nilsson, chair of Sweden’s IF Metall union and a prominent critic of Tesla, has left X and is urging audiences to follow the union on Meta’s Threads instead.
Tesla Sweden and IF Metall have been engaged in a bitter dispute for over two years now.
Anti-Tesla union leader exits X
In a comment to Dagens Arbete (DA), Nilsson noted that her exit from X is not formally tied to IF Metall’s long-running labor dispute with Tesla Sweden. Still, she stated that her departure is affected by changes to the platform under Elon Musk’s leadership.
“We have stayed because many journalists pick up news there. But as more and more people have left X, we have felt that the standard has now been reached on that platform,” she said.
Jesper Pettersson, press officer at IF Metall, highlighted that the union’s departure from X is only indirectly linked to Tesla Sweden and Elon Musk. “Indirectly it does, since there is a lot of evidence that his ownership has caused the change in the platform to be so significant.
“We have nevertheless assessed that the platform had value for reaching journalists, politicians and other opinion leaders. But it is a microscopic proportion of the public and our members who are there, and now that value has decreased,” Petterson added.
IF Metall sees Threads as an X alternative
After leaving X, IF Metall has begun using Threads, Meta’s alternative to the social media platform. The union described the move as experimental, noting that it is still evaluating how effective the platform will be for outreach and visibility.
Pettersson acknowledged that Meta also does not operate under Sweden’s collective bargaining model, but said the union sees little alternative if it wants to remain visible online.
“In a perfect world, all large international companies would be supporters of the Swedish model when they come here. But unfortunately, the reality is not like that. If we are to be visible at all in this social media world, we have to play by the rules of the game. The alternative would be to become completely invisible, and that would not benefit our members,” he said.
Despite many recent rumors and various reports, Elon Musk confirmed today that SpaceX is not developing a phone based on Starlink, not once, but twice.
Today’s report from Reuters cited people familiar with the matter and stated internal discussions have seen SpaceX executives mulling the idea of building a mobile device that would connect directly to the Starlink satellite constellation.
Musk did state in late January that SpaceX developing a phone was “not out of the question at some point.” However, He also said it would have to be a major difference from current phones, and would be optimized “purely for running max performance/watt neural nets.”
Not out of the question at some point. It would be a very different device than current phones. Optimized purely for running max performance/watt neural nets.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2026
While Musk said it was not out of the question “at some point,” that does not mean it is currently a project SpaceX is working on. The CEO reaffirmed this point twice on X this afternoon.
Musk said, “Reuters lies relentlessly,” in one post. In the next, he explicitly stated, “We are not developing a phone.”
Reuters lies relentlessly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2026
We are not developing a phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2026
Musk has basically always maintained that SpaceX has too many things going on, denying that a phone would be in the realm of upcoming projects. There are too many things in the works for Musk’s space exploration company, most notably the recent merger with xAI.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
A Starlink phone would be an excellent idea, especially considering that SpaceX operates 9,500 satellites, serving over 9 million users worldwide. 650 of those satellites are dedicated to the company’s direct-to-device initiative, which provides cellular coverage on a global scale.
Nevertheless, there is the potential that the Starlink phone eventually become a project SpaceX works on. However, it is not currently in the scope of what the company needs to develop, so things are more focused on that as of right now.
Tesla has added a notable improvement to its Dashcam feature after complaints from owners have pushed the company to make a drastic change.
Perhaps one of the biggest frustrations that Tesla owners have communicated regarding the Dashcam feature is the lack of ability to retain any more than 60 minutes of driving footage before it is overwritten.
It does not matter what size USB jump drive is plugged into the vehicle. 60 minutes is all it will hold until new footage takes over the old. This can cause some issues, especially if you were saving an impressive clip of Full Self-Driving or an incident on the road, which could be lost if new footage was recorded.
This has now been changed, as Tesla has shown in the Release Notes for an upcoming Software Update in China. It will likely expand to the U.S. market in the coming weeks, and was first noticed by NotaTeslaApp.
The release notes state:
“Dashcam Dynamic Recording Duration – The dashcam dynamically adjusts the recording duration based on the available storage capacity of the connected USB drive. For example, with a 128 GB USB drive, the maximum recording duration is approximately 3 hours; with a 1 TB or larger USB drive, it can reach up to 24 hours. This ensures that as much video as possible is retained for review before it gets overwritten.”
Tesla Adds Dynamic Recording
Instead of having a 60-minute cap, the new system will now go off the memory in the USB drive. This means with:
- 128 GB Jump Drive – Up to Three Hours of Rolling Footage
- 1TB Jump Drive – Up to 24 Hours of Rolling Footage
This is dependent on the amount of storage available on the jump drive, meaning that if there are other things saved on it, it will take away from the amount of footage that can be retained.
While the feature is just now making its way to employees in China, it will likely be at least several weeks before it makes its way to the U.S., but owners should definitely expect it in the coming months.
It will be a welcome feature, especially as there will now be more customization to the number of clips and their duration that can be stored.
Anti-Tesla union leader ditches X, urges use of Threads instead
Elon Musk confirms SpaceX is not developing a phone
