If you ask the Norwegian roadside assistance company "Viking", electric cars perform better in cold weather than their petrol and diesel counterparts.
17,400!
That's how many times the Norwegian roadside assistance company "Viking" had to help drivers in need during the first 11 days of 2024.
And when 9 out of 10 new cars in Norway run exclusively on electricity, you can think for yourself. Namely that roadside assistance most often comes out to electric cars with dead batteries.
But that is not the case, the Viking people tell Norwegian TV2 .
READ ALSO: The EU drops strict requirements for electric cars in cold weather
It is actually most common that the petrol and diesel cars – or exhaust cars, as the Norwegians say – need help. It is these cars that have starting and battery problems in cold weather, it says.
Svein Setrom, network manager at Viking, says that many drivers in petrol and diesel cars forget that the batteries in their cars also need maintenance.
This is especially the case if the cars are only used for shorter trips, where the car's consumption of electricity is higher than what the generator can manage to produce.
Ultimately, such a cycle will mean that there is not enough current in the battery to pull the starter around.
Although 9 out of 10 new cars in Norway only run on electricity, the car type is still in the minority on the roads. Only 24 percent of the total Norwegian car fleet consists of pure electric cars.
READ ALSO: Fined DKK 17,500 on Monday: Now the police also have the car
But it is only in 13 percent of the tasks that Viking calls out that an electric car needs help to get started.
Svein Setrom tells Norwegian TV2 that when the electric cars need help, it is most often due to a dead battery. Then there are punctures, while technical faults are the third most common.
However, the electric car is not necessarily happiness for the Norwegians. Especially not when it comes to rust. In fact, a Norwegian undercarriage treatment company believes that the Tesla Model Y in particular is a major rust trap. Read more about it here .
Conversely, the Norwegians soon have no choice. At least not when it comes to new cars. Already on 1 January 2025, the Norwegian state will ban new cars with internal combustion engines. This also applies to the hybrids. Read more about it here .
Read more exciting news from and about the world of cars right here!
