Originally published on CleanTechnica.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently gave an interview to Christina Bu of the Norwegian EV Association, while in the Northern European country for a government conference on the shift to electric vehicles.
The interview resulted in some fairly interesting new quotes from the noted public figure, which will be highlighted below.
During the interview, Musk noted that Norway was a “world leader” when it came to electric vehicle (EV) adoption — largely owing to the substantial incentives in the country.
“Norway is a world leader when it comes to electric mobility. Your political incentives represent a great catalyst for the fantastic EV adoption, and you have fought for sustainable transport for more than 20 years. Not to forget renewable energy,” Musk was quoted as saying.
He also noted that incentives were likely a necessity in order to level the playing field, owing to how substantial and widespread fossil fuel subsidies currently are.
“The thing to do is trying to eliminate the gigantic incentives for oil and gas in order to compete on an equal level,” Musk stated.
Here’s more (via the Norwegian EV Association):
“Our association now has more than 35,000 members, probably the biggest EV owners organization in the world. Double that, and you have the number of EVs on Norwegian roads. Norwegian EV users have done a tremendous job adopting the new technology,” said Bu. “Mr Musk, how do you feel about 11,000 Model S vehicles having found their way to Norway?”
“Norway is a really important market for us, and the contribution from the Norwegian EV Association is highly appreciated. What you have done is very important for the transition to sustainable transport in general,” said Musk.
During the conversation he revealed his astonishment at the number of pre-orders for Tesla’s Model 3.
“100,000 would have been an impressive number. Now, with some 400,000 pre-orders, the number is almost unbelievable. I can’t wait to bring it to Norway. The Model 3 was probably the real wake up call for the rest of the industry. No one seemed to care when the Roadster was launched,” Musk recalled. “Now the electric vehicle is finally nearing its real breakthrough.”
As a bit of background here — the Norwegian EV Association (Norsk elbilforening) was founded in 1995, and now possesses over 35,000 members. Not bad considering that there are only around 5 million people in Norway.