They speed past gas guzzlers in traffic, ignore congestion charges and get city centre parking for free. In a country whose wealth is fuelled by oil, Oslo has become the world capital of the electric car.
Rune Haaland, the head of the electric car users association Norstart, said standing in a city centre car park forbidden to other car users: “There are more electric cars per capita here than in any other capital of the world.”
Almost 4000 of the small, clean and silent vehicles are on the roads of Norway, although they are found mainly in the cities, and the number is climbing as new models come onto the market.
From the tiny, locally-made Buddy, to the sporty Tesla, which can accelerate from 0-100 in less than four seconds, all sorts of electric cars have taken to the roads of the Norwegian capital.
Norway may be one of the world's top fossil-fuel exporters, but it has set ambitious climate policy objectives, aiming to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2020.
Transport Minister Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa said: “The electric car is a very important tool for that, knowing that 40 percent of our emissions come from the transport sector and 60 percent of those come from road transport.”
According to some estimates, the country's 3891 electric cars allow it to save more than 6000 ton of carbon dioxide each year.
Norway has introduced a string of incentive measures to persuade drivers to switch to electric cars. They can use bus lanes to bypass traffic jams, they don't have to shell out congestion charges and can park for free in municipal car parks.
New father Christian Blakseth traded his bicycle for an electric car.
“It's very advantageous to be able to park for free downtown and to escape traffic jams,” the young train conductor said.
“And you don't get drowned in day-to-day spending: it's a car that is expensive to buy but cheap to use,” he said.
Norwegian petrol prices are among the highest in Europe - but charging an electric car's batteries at home costs about €2 (R19).
With growing demand, automakers are rushing to put out new models. And consumers are responding with just as much enthusiasm: in the first quarter of 2011 an electric car, Mitsubishi's i-MiEV, topped small model car sales in Norway.
Mitsubishi Norway head Bernt Jessen said: “We were planning to sell 400 in Norway this year, and we are already at 700. We think we will ultimately reach 1000.”
Despite technological advances, range remains a problem for electric vehicles, however, with cars only able to go for about 150km before needing to be recharged.
And with Norway's cold winters slashing battery efficiency, optimal performance is hard to achieve.
To get around this obstacle, Norway has decided to put in place a national network of charging stands across the country allowing drivers to “fill up” their cars in about 20 minutes, just long enough to enjoy a roadside cup of coffee, compared to the seven or eight hours normally needed.
The mountain cottage, sacrosanct for Norwegians, could soon be only a few kilowatts away. - AFP