24
0Episode: Norway Goes Electric: 97.6% New Cars Are EVs
Duration: approximately 7 minutes
Level: B1 (Intermediate)
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[Mike]: Welcome back to Learn English with Podcasts! Sarah, imagine you walk into a car showroom and almost every new car is electric. Would you believe it?
zh:欢迎回到 Learn English with Podcasts！Sarah，想象一下你走进一家汽车展厅，几乎每一辆新车都是电动车，你会相信吗？
[Sarah]: Almost every car? That sounds like a science fiction movie. How many are we talking about?
zh:几乎每一辆？那听起来像科幻电影。我们在说多少比例？
[Mike]: In Norway, in July, 97.6% of all new cars were pure electric. Out of 9609 new cars, 9379 were electric.
zh:在挪威，今年7月，97.6%的新车是纯电动车。在9609辆新车中，有9379辆是电动车。
[Sarah]: Wow, 97.6%? So how many gas cars were left?
zh:哇，97.6%？那还剩下多少燃油车？
[Mike]: Only 15 gasoline cars and 2 diesel cars. Just 17 fuel cars in the whole country for the entire month.
zh:只有15辆汽油车和2辆柴油车。整个国家整整一个月只卖出17辆燃油车。
[Sarah]: 17? In a whole country? That is crazy. What about hybrids?
zh:17辆？在一个国家里？太疯狂了。那混动车呢？
[Mike]: Also very few. Only 96 regular hybrids and 117 plug-in hybrids. So together, fuel and hybrid cars were less than 3% of the market.
zh:也非常少。只有96辆普通混动和117辆插电混动。所以加起来，燃油车和混动车不到市场的3%。
[Sarah]: That means Norway is the first country in the world where new gas cars almost disappeared. But is this normal in Europe?
zh:这意味着挪威成了全球第一个新燃油车几乎消失的国家。但这在欧洲算正常吗？
[Mike]: Not at all. In Spain, only 10% of new cars are electric. In Italy, it is just 5.9%. Norway is completely different.
zh:完全不正常。在西班牙，只有10%的新车是电动车。在意大利，只有5.9%。挪威完全不同。
[Sarah]: So how did Norway do it? This did not happen overnight, right?
zh:那挪威是怎么做到的？这不是一夜之间发生的吧？
[Mike]: Exactly. 7 years ago, in 2019, Norway was already number one in Europe. Back then 58% of new cars were electric or plug-in hybrid. And now it is 97.6%.
zh:没错。7年前，也就是2019年，挪威就已经是欧洲第一了。当时58%的新车是纯电或插电混动。而现在是97.6%。
[Sarah]: That is a huge jump. What is their secret? Did they ban gas cars?
zh:这是一个巨大的飞跃。他们的秘诀是什么？他们禁止燃油车了吗？
[Mike]: No ban. They used money to change behavior. For many years, electric cars in Norway had no VAT and no registration tax. So an electric car was often cheaper than the same size gasoline car.
zh:没有禁令。他们用经济手段改变行为。多年来，挪威的电动车免增值税和注册税。所以一辆电动车常常比同级别的燃油车更便宜。
[Sarah]: Wait, an electric car cheaper than a gas car? That is the opposite of most countries.
zh:等等，电动车比燃油车便宜？这和大多数国家相反。
[Mike]: Yes, that is why it worked. And there were more perks. Cheaper tolls, free or cheap parking, you could even drive in the bus lane, and there were charging stations everywhere.
zh:是的，这就是它奏效的原因。还有更多福利。过路费更便宜，停车免费或优惠，甚至可以走公交专用道，而且到处都有充电桩。
[Sarah]: Ah, so they made electric life really easy, and gas life a little harder. Did it cost the government a lot?
zh:啊，所以他们让电动车的生活变得非常便利，让燃油车的生活稍微难一点。这让政府花了很多钱吧？
[Mike]: It did. In 2021 alone, Norway lost 39.4 billion kroner in taxes because of these electric car perks.
zh:确实花了很多。仅在2021年，挪威就因为这些电动车优惠损失了394亿克朗的税收。
[Sarah]: 39.4 billion? That is a lot of money. Can they keep doing this forever?
zh:394亿？那是一大笔钱。他们能永远这样补贴下去吗？
[Mike]: They are slowly changing it. Right now, the VAT-free limit is 500,000 kroner. The new plan is to lower it to 300,000 kroner, and by 2027, the free VAT will end completely.
zh:他们正在慢慢调整。现在免增值税的上限是50万克朗。新计划是降到30万克朗，到2027年完全取消免税。
[Sarah]: And what about gas cars?
zh:那燃油车呢？
[Mike]: Taxes on fuel cars will keep going up. The idea is simple — keep pushing people toward electric.
zh:燃油车的税会继续上涨。思路很简单——继续把人们推向电动车。
[Sarah]: Okay, so people are buying electric. But what brands are they buying? I thought Tesla owned Norway.
zh:好吧，所以人们在买电动车。但他们买什么品牌？我以为特斯拉统治着挪威。
[Mike]: For many years, Tesla was number one in Oslo. Oslo has the highest density of electric cars in the world. But now, things are more competitive.
zh:多年来，特斯拉在奥斯陆是第一。奥斯陆是全球电动车密度最高的城市。但现在，竞争更激烈了。
[Sarah]: So who was number one in July?
zh:那7月谁是第一？
[Mike]: Toyota. With 1260 cars. More than double the same month last year. Volkswagen was second with 985 cars.
zh:丰田，卖了1260辆。比去年同月翻了一倍多。大众第二，卖了985辆。
[Sarah]: Toyota first? I thought Toyota was famous for hybrids.
zh:丰田第一？我以为丰田以混动闻名。
[Mike]: It is. But in Norway, even Toyota now sells mostly electric. And here is the big surprise — number three is XPENG, a Chinese company, with 843 cars.
zh:确实是。但在挪威，即使是丰田现在也主要卖电动车。而最大的惊喜是——第三名是小鹏，一家中国公司，卖了843辆。
[Sarah]: A Chinese brand in the top 3 in Norway? That is new.
zh:一个中国品牌在挪威排进前三？这很新鲜。
[Mike]: It shows how much the market has changed. A few years ago, people in Europe barely knew Chinese car brands. Now one is beating many old European brands in Norway.
zh:这说明市场变化有多大。几年前，欧洲人几乎不认识中国汽车品牌。现在有一个已经在挪威超过了很多老牌欧洲品牌。
[Sarah]: It makes sense. If you make good, affordable electric cars, people will buy them, no matter where the brand is from.
zh:有道理。如果你造出好用、价格合理的电动车，人们就会买，不管品牌来自哪里。
[Mike]: That is the lesson from Norway. They did not just build better cars. They built a better system. Cheaper prices, easy charging, real benefits every day.
zh:这就是挪威的启示。他们不只是造出了更好的车。他们建立了更好的体系。更便宜的价格、便捷的充电、每天都能感受到的实惠。
[Sarah]: I love that. And you know what is funny? Norway is famous for oil. It is one of the biggest oil producers in the world. And now it is the first country to stop buying gas cars.
zh:我很喜欢这一点。你知道什么很有趣吗？挪威以石油闻名，是全球最大的石油生产国之一。而现在它是第一个不再购买燃油车的国家。
[Mike]: Right! The country that got rich from oil is the first to leave oil cars behind. That is a perfect twist.
zh:没错！靠石油致富的国家，第一个告别燃油车。这是个完美的反转。
[Sarah]: So maybe the future is not about who has the most oil under the ground, but who builds the best charging station on the street.
zh:所以也许未来不在于谁的地下石油最多，而在于谁在街上建了最好的充电站。
[Mike]: Exactly. And for our listeners — if 97.6% of a whole country can switch, maybe switching is not as scary as we think.
zh:没错。对我们的听众来说——如果一个国家97.6%的人都能切换，也许改变并没有我们想的那么可怕。
[Sarah]: Thanks for listening to Learn English with Podcasts today! What do you drive — gas or electric? Tell us what you think, and will your country be the next Norway?
zh:感谢今天收听 Learn English with Podcasts！你开的是油车还是电车？告诉我们你的想法，你的国家会成为下一个挪威吗？
[Mike]: See you next time. And keep watching the road — it is getting more electric every month.
zh:下期见。继续关注马路——它每个月都变得更电动。
