Cars To Vanish From Downtown Oslo Before 2020

Norway has firmly established itself as the most friendly country in the world for electric cars.

Cars with plugs account for a higher percentage of sales there than anywhere else.

But the Scandinavian country may soon take even more aggressive steps to reduce its transportation-related carbon emissions.

DON'T MISS: Norway's Goal: All New Cars Will Be Emission-Free By 2025 To Cut Carbon

Norway's capital, Oslo, may ban most people from driving their cars--electric or otherwise--into the city center by 2020, according to The Independent (via Autoblog).

"We want to have a car-free center," Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, the lead negotiator for the Norwegian Green Party in Oslo, told reporters last week.

The plan is reportedly endorsed by all three of the political parties that make up Oslo's city council: the Green Party, the Labor Party, and the Socialist Left.

Some European cities have introduced temporary bans to combat pollution or limit traffic, and many have "pedestrianized" streets or neighborhoods, banning regular vehicle traffic.

But Oslo's proposed action would be the first comprehensive, permanent ban in a European city.

With fewer cars around, city officials plan to emphasize alternative forms of transportation--more practical in Europe than in large swathes of the U.S. dedicated to low-density suburban developments.