Danish EVs have saved nearly 2 billion kroner in oil imports

Denmark’s shift to electric cars has avoided nearly 2 billion kroner in oil imports since the war between Iran and the United States began on February 28, DR reports, citing new figures from the green-transition think tank Ember.

Most of the savings have gone to car owners who replaced petrol or diesel cars with electric vehicles, says Mogens Fosgerau, a professor of transport economics at the University of Copenhagen.

“It is a lot of money, especially in the budgets of ordinary households,” he says. The government, however, has lost tax revenue because electric cars are not taxed in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles, he adds.

Ember’s figures show that in the six months after the war began, Denmark’s electric car fleet grew by an amount equivalent to 13 per cent of the country’s 2025 oil imports. That represents about 6.4 million barrels that will not be imported.

Based on Ember’s data, Fosgerau says only Norway has seen a greater effect from electric cars per capita. Denmark’s reduction in oil dependence per person is seven times the EU average, the figures show.

Fosgerau says Denmark’s relatively high taxes on fossil-fuel cars have helped drive the shift. Electric vehicles have been exempt from registration tax, making them more competitive with petrol cars.