Norway is very strict on-Air Pollution, in Oslo and other major cities like Bergen, on days with heavy air pollution the city council with no hesitation will quintuple road tolls to 160 kroner (€17.50, $20). This measure replies on: “A study shows that increasing the tolls to such a high level will reduce car traffic in Oslo by 27 percent and thus cut nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions.”
Norway ironically is the largest oil and gas producer in western Europe is also a leader in the field of electric transport with more electric cars than any other country in the world.
The big achievement of Norway comes from the fact that 98 percent of the electricity production come from renewable energy sources. Hydropower is the main source but both wind and thermal energy contributes to the Norwegian electricity production.
Even though air transport accounts for 2.4% of Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions for domestic traffic Norway has made a new pledge that by 2040 all its short-haul flights will be on electric aircraft. The reasons behind this promise because Norway have 46 airports with a lot of short-haul flights. Because the mountainous nature of the country with many offshore islands. Road, rail or boat travel often take a lot longer than a short flight, especially during the winter when snow and ice can block roads and tracks. The average flights are between 15 to 30 minutes.
“The strategy” according to Dag Falk-Petersen, the head of the country’s airport company Avinor “is to tender for many aircraft makers to come up with a 25-to-30-seat airliner powered by electric motors, with the first of them introduced into service as early as 2025.”
Falk-Peterson continues. “We are sure that an aircraft like that can be electrified,”
It seems the time have come for Electric-powered aircraft and according the consulting firm Roland Berger that there were more than 100 electric-powered aircraft projects in progress.
The aircraft that Avinor and the Norwegian Air Sports Federation have ordered comes from one of Europe’s largest aircraft manufacturers — Pipistrel in Slovenia. The Alpha Electro G2 (see photo) is the first electric two-seater aircraft to be approved for commercial series production. The range is approximately 130km and the aircraft can remain airborne for about 1 hour per charging. The aircraft will be delivered in May 2018.
This is a very bold move from a country with 98% of its electricity is generated from renewal energy sources with a big plan to that all cars in the country could run on green energy by 2025. Now they want to make planes like buses and will be far more effective than trains or other means of transport. This will add to their already fantastic environmental profile.
