Norway has 30,000 EV pre-orders – Audi e-tron and Tesla Model 3 lead the pack

Pre-orders for the Audi e-tron EV (pictured) in Norway lead the pack on value

Norway, Europe’s electric car capital, has 30,000 electric cars on pre-order, with the Tesla Model 3 and Audi e-tron leading the way.

Pre-orders seem to have become a ‘thing’ since Tesla starting taking modest deposits on cars they hadn’t actually started to build, and now every car maker – especially every electric car maker – is busy encouraging car buyers to stick down a deposit a long way ahead of production, not only to get buyers on the hook but also to gauge likely demand.

The world capital for pre-orders seems to be Norway, where makers of new EVs are keen to plug in to Europe’s Electric Car Capital for cash and feedback ahead of much of the rest of the world. And that means Norway is currently sitting on around 30,000 pre-orders for electric cars. That’s almost as many pre-orders as the UK has actual EVs.

Norway’s NRK (the equivalent of the BBC) has delved in to the pre-order situation for EVs and come up with some interesting numbers, namely that of the 30,000 pre-orders, a third are for the Tesla Model 3, with a big chunk for the Audi e-tron (which is actually ahead of the Model 3 on deposit value).

Some of the cars on the list (full list below) look likely to struggle to deliver the pre-orders in any sensible timeframe, but it’s an indication of what a big government push to adopt EVs can do (rightly or wrongly).

EV pre-orders in Norway by Value

1. Audi e-tron
2. Tesla Model 3
3. Porsche Taycan
4. Hyundai Kona Electric
5. Kia Niro Electric
6. Mercedes EQC
7. Jaguar I-Pace
8. BMW iX3
9. DS Crossback E-Tense

EV pre-orders in Norway by Volume

1. Tesla Model 3 (10,000)
2. Audi e-tron (6,300)
3. Hyundai KJona Electric (6,000)
4. Kia Niro Electric (5,900)
5. Next-gen Nissan LEAF (3,000)
6. Jaguar I-Pace (3,000)
7. Porsche Taycan (2,300)
8. Mercedes EQC (2,200)
9. DS Crossback E-Tense (1,350)
10. BMW iX3 (1,000)

Source: Electrek