An interesting article indeed. I have family who live there and they discuss this too.

One thing that the article doesn't mention is that electricity is very cheap. Almost all electricity comes from hydro generation, and does not compare with the cost of electricity in the UK.

It's also a country of two halves. A significant number live in or close to Oslo where there is good public transport, high road tolls an no public parking at all in the city centre. This is where the green activists reside, young single or childless with no essential need for a car.

Contrast that with the other half who live away from the cities, who need to transport kids to school perhaps five or ten miles from home where the term 'public transport' is unknown.

Several years ago my son-in-law advertised his 3-year-old car for sale, and a chap came to view. He said he was viewing for a friend, and confirmed the friend would buy it. Next thing he got a call saying, can you meet me at the airport please? The buyer arrived at the airport, they drove into town to do a bank transfer and the buyer droped my son-in-law back at his house.

As a parting comment my son-in-law asked how long it would take the buyer to get home - and he replied '25 hours driving, two tankfuls of petrol! He would not have done that so easily with an EV!

It is never about environment, always about money.

Mayor Kahn is planning to introduce road pricing for London

Only because the ULEZ isn`t giving enough cash, most traffic is ULEZ free so not giving the cash they wanted, I gather they weren`t expecting that to happen so he wants road pricing instead, though it would be good if local traffic was sorted first though as congestion is terrible on main roads into London because of his daft ideas

I would suggest that eventual taxation of electric cars should be annual VED based on the maximum rate the motor (or motors) can consume energy. So something capable of emptying its battery by doing 0-60 in 2 seconds a dozen times in succession would pay high tax.

Should imo be based on weight of car/vehicle, due to energy needed to propel the vehicle, max speed/acceleration of an electric motor shouldn`t come into it, weight will determine power consumption and source of electricity...

To be fair, pre-pandemic times did, over some years show significantly increase numbers of people using public transport, mainly the trains, though I suspect much of that was down to the population increases (especially in cities) due to increased immigration.

The pandemic has, at least temporarily put a dampner on travel by bus and rail. Whether it'll return after (hopefully) the pandemic (restrictions) end is another matter. Other than the fear, I think many people have though long and hard about their priorities and work/life balance and this may change things considerably, which will have a big impact on taxation as well as how we do things as regards the workplace and travel.

Add to that the (often hastily thought out or pushed by certain 'lobby' groups and individuals who have a lot to gain) green laws and you got a lot. Times they are a changing indeed. What to though...