Norway is often seen as one of the most progressive countries in the world and new sales figures reveal that its car buyers are embracing electric technology on a major scale.

The Scandinavian state has become the 4th global country to register more than 100,000 electric vehicles. With a population of just over 5 million people, this now means that in total some 25% of the total fleet is now based on plug-in electric technology.

The registration figure for electric cars in Norway has jumped from just 3,366 electric vehicles in 2010 to 50,000 by April last year. The figure will now jump even faster with more than 17,000 electric vehicles sold year to date. This means that roughly 1 in 3 new car sales in the country are electric.

At 450,000, 300,000 and 150,000 units respectively, the USA, China and Japan are the biggest electric car markets, although in these countries the percentage of electric sales remains relatively low.