Can New Zealand reach Norway's standard for electric vehicles?

Norway has surpassed the rest of us - they have the largest electric vehicle (EV) ownership per capita in the world.

With more than 200,000 plug-in EVs recorded at the end of last year, the number continues to rise as the country aims to sell only zero carbon-emission cars by 2025.

So how does New Zealand compare? Christina Bu is the Norwegian Electric Vehicles Association secretary general and she spoke to The AM Show on Monday.

Ms Bu told host Duncan Garner New Zealand's EV progress is "speeding up".

"Now I see them around New Zealand everywhere so you have definitely had a progression," she says.

Ms Bu says the secret to Norway's success is using taxes to make electric vehicles the same price as fossil fuel vehicles.

"In Norway we do something that many countries don't do - we tax pollution," she says.

"So we tax the most polluting cars quite heavily and then we don't tax electric cars."

And she encourages New Zealand to follow suit.

"I don't know why politicians are so afraid. We subsidise oil all over the world, why shouldn't we help the new technology that we need to reduce emissions," she says.

"For New Zealand it makes even more sense to go electric because you're importing oil - so it costs you money."

Newshub.