Gas pumps are disappearing in Norway as electric cars are taking over

Norway is adopting electric cars faster than any other country and it is already affecting gas stations. Some are disappearing and others are slowly reducing their capacity.

The writing is on the wall: electric cars are taking over.

Gas stations and convenience stores that rely on drivers coming for gas to sell other things are going to have to change their business model.

Last month, we reported on a gas station in the US that removed its gas pumps to make space for electric car-charging stations.

It was surprising to hear about that happening in the US, but it is apparently a more common phenomenon in Norway.

The Circle K at Aleksander Kielland’s place in Oslo also replaced all its gas pumps with electric car chargers last month.

Sverre Rosén, a representative for Circle K, said (via The Nordic Page):

“We have never done this before. There are fierce battles over the square meters at gas stations, and the gas pumps still deliver the core products and drive most of the traffic to our stations.”

Over 50% of new car sales in Norway are now electric and it’s already affecting demand for gas and diesel.

Some gas stations started to close and others have removed pumps (picture via u/paalu):

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More store owners are starting to look into adding charging stations in order to keep a flow of potential customers.

Christina Bu from the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association commented on the phenomenon:

“We’re in a new era. It is a historic milestone that the gas station chains replace fossil fuel pumps with electric chargers. We congratulate Circle K for investing in electric cars.”

While more evident in Norway where electrification is happening fast, some other gas station operators and oil companies have been making moves in other markets.

Shell is leading the charge through its involvement in the new Ionity charging network in Europe, building its own chargers at its own gas stations, and recently acquiring a charging network with over 30,000 chargers.

Petro Canada, formerly a state-owned oil company in Canada but now part of Suncor, is also on board, as it started deploying charging stations to its large network of gas stations in Canada.

BP also started investing in electric vehicle charging through an investment in a startup, and Chevron started deploying EV charging stations at its gas stations.