Norway to ban petrol, diesel cars by 2025

If the Norwegian government gets its way, all petrol, diesel and even hybrid new cars will be banned in the Scandinavian country.

And there's a tech entrepreneur who's very happy about the report detailed in Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv. Indeed, Telsa CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Norway was "an amazingly awesome country" to be considering such a move.

Although the new laws wouldn't ban existing petrol or diesel cars it would stop car dealers selling them new. This would in turn slowly kill off petrol stations. Ironically, Norway is the prosperous nation it is today due to its massive oil and gas reserves in the North Sea.

The only vehicles available to buy new in 10 years' time in the Scandinavian country would be pure electric vehicles, or EVs, such as the Tesla Model X and hydrogen fuel cell cars like the Toyota Mirai.

Norway currently has the highest uptake of EVs on the planet, with roughly one in four of all new cars sold there driven by an electric motor.

The new laws to ban petrol and diesel cars are proposals only at this stage, according to the Norwegian newspaper, but the major political parties who were previously unable to agree on legislation have now reportedly reached an accord.

Norway joins the Netherlands, one of the most bicycle-friendly countries in the world, in proposing the fossil fuel-powered vehicle bans.