Norway wrote the playbook for electric cars and is adapting it, with Nordic pragmatism, for trucks: keep the road-use exemption long, support the purchase through a dedicated agency, and trim the tax privileges as volumes grow.

The operating incentive. Zero-emission (and biogas) trucks are exempt from road tolls until 2030 — a longer, clearer runway than most of Europe offers and, given Norway’s dense toll-road network, a material per-kilometre advantage. National rules additionally cap what zero-emission vehicles can be charged at a maximum of 70% of conventional rates where exemptions don’t apply, with many municipalities at 50%.

The purchase layer. There is no universal purchase subsidy; support flows through Enova’s Landtransport programmes, which fund electric truck acquisition for businesses — including support covering up to 60% of the additional purchase cost for heavy-duty electric vehicles in business transitions — plus separate schemes for truck charging station installation and for planning/design of on-site charging infrastructure. Enova programmes run in calls with their own calendars; treat them as project grants you apply for with a file, not entitlements you collect at the dealer.

The tax tightening. From 1 January 2026 the VAT exemption applies only to the first NOK 300,000 of an electric vehicle’s price (the excess bears 25% VAT), and a weight tax of NOK 12.71 per kilogram over 500 kg applies; from 1 March 2026 electric light commercials lose the road-traffic-insurance-tax exemption as well. For heavy trucks the VAT ceiling is largely symbolic — the truck’s price dwarfs NOK 300,000 — but the direction of travel matters: Norway normalises EV taxation as adoption scales, and truck incentives will follow the same path from privilege to CO₂-differentiated norm.

Infrastructure note. Norway’s hydropower grid gives electric trucking the cleanest electrons in Europe, and winter operations provide the continent’s harshest real-world test — expect 20–30% winter range penalties in planning, documented in Nordic fleet studies.

WattTonne’s read. Norwegian fleets: the toll exemption to 2030 is your TCO anchor; apply to Enova with a complete project file (vehicle + charging + utilisation plan) rather than piecemeal. Watch municipal toll-setting — the 2030 exemption end-date will concentrate minds around 2028.