Norway now has more electric cars than petrol cars on its roads, as it leads Europe towards a greener future. A staggering 90 per cent of new cars bought in August were electric, which tipped the total percentage of cars that are electric on Norwegian roads into the majority. You just have to breathe the air around Oslo, Ålesund or Bergen, where we travelled this month, to sense that the entire country is decarbonising.
Even the ferries that link the ribbons of road loping around the fjords are electric, whipping smoothly and silently over the dark waters of the north. It made perfect sense, then, to take Audi’s new Q6 e-tron, their pure-electric family SUV, on a clean-living road trip round this incredible slither of Scandinavia, full of mountains, rushing rivers and forests. We flew into Bergen, touching down to thunderous skies and heavy rain.
Vending machines offering umbrellas in our hotel lobby should have given us a clue about what to expect, weather-wise. Hike the trails around a lake, and you suddenly find yourself in need of every bit of outdoor clothing you never knew existed. Or, you can do as we did, and simply hunker down in the warmth of a spacious Audi, turn the heated seats on full and the stereo up, and gaze out of the large windows as the water flows down them.
Our Q6 e-tron turned up outside our hotel in Bergen’s cobbled square, its deep blue paintwork a satisfyingly sumptuous hue. Inside, all was black quilted leather and red low-level lighting arou.