Helsingin Sanomat reported that the electric mobility lobby group Sähköinen Liikenne has set an ambitious goal of getting one million electric vehicles (EVs) on Finnish roads by 2030, with more than half being fully electric and the remainder being various types of hybrids.
HS noted there are currently about 150,000 EVs in the country, of which fewer than one-third are fully electric while the rest are hybrids.
"Of course there is optimism, but when you think about how fast the electric vehicle fleet has been growing, every time growth has been estimated, it has come up short," the association's CEO Heikki Karsimus said.
The electric vehicle group is linked to the technology lobby organisation Technology Industries of Finland and aims to promote detailed policies on EVs ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election.
The group also believes that widespread EV adoption could be a significant economic opportunity for Finnish companies.
The association is also seeking to build 60,000 public charging stations, up from fewer than 10,000 currently in place. The group expects this to be its most easily achieved target.
Karsimus also pointed out that pessimists in sparsely populated areas that currently have less access to the charging network will eventually be won over, as the price of electricity becomes cheaper compared to fossil fuels.
Children's sports prices tripled since 2000
Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat referenced a survey in sport magazine Urheilulehti, which highlighted that the cost of children's sport in Finland has increased by as much as 300 percent in the past 20 years.
The survey collected information from 14 different sports and five cities, including Helsinki, Lahti, Kuopio, Vaasa and Rovaniemi.
The costs varied widely across regions, with the greatest disparity between competitive and recreational levels. The survey looked at not only club and league fees but also all direct and indirect costs, including travel expenses.
The survey found that popular sports such as ice hockey and gymnastics have become more expensive over the last eight years, with ice hockey prices rising by almost 30 percent at competitive levels since 2015. Ice hockey expenses were driven in part by high rink fees, rising equipment prices, coach salaries, and travel costs.
According to experts, the cost of kids' sports grew even before the pandemic and ballooning inflation, which put increasing financial pressure on parents to fund such activities.
"Junior sports are already outrageously expensive in Finland. Increasingly, sports are already becoming the exclusive right of rich families," sports sociology professor Hannu Itkonen commented.
Cartoonist lands journalist of the year award
Iltalehti covered its cartoonist Ville Ranta winning the Journalist of the Year award at the annual Great Journalism Award Gala.
Ranta is the first cartoonist to receive this award. He sees cartoonists as having a "clown role" in journalism, and thinks cartoons should never be taken seriously by the artist or the audience.
According to Ranta, cartoons force people to think for themselves without explanation or justification. Ranta said that he hopes that there will be more cartoonists in Finland.
Iltalehti publishes Ranta's cartoons twice a week, where he tackles Finnish politicians, foreign leaders and current events.
In the past year, his comics have garnered widespread attention for poking fun at Turkey's stubbornness during the Nato application process, Finland's "warm welcome" to immigrants, and Putin's exceptionally long table.
Yle Kioski's Jaakko Keso and Helsingin Sanomat's Katriina Pajari were also nominated for the award.
Would you like a roundup of the week's top stories in your inbox every Thursday? Then sign up to receive our weekly email.