Automotive/Explainer

Germany's EV tax exemption now runs to 2035 — and gets shorter with every year you wait to register

The Eighth Act amending the Motor Vehicle Tax Act pushed the qualifying first-registration date out to 2030 and capped the exemption itself at 31 December 2035. Register later and you get less than ten years. After that, weight decides.

Meridians Technik-Redaktion

Published 10 September 2026 · Updated 10 September 2026 · 6 min read

Germany's EV tax exemption now runs to 2035 — and gets shorter with every year you wait to register — Photo: Foto von Elmir Jafarov / Pexels (Pexels-Lizenz — kostenlos nutzbar, Nennung rechtlich nicht erforderlich (oben dennoch angegeben).)

The short answer

The Eighth Act amending the German Motor Vehicle Tax Act was promulgated on 22 December 2025 and has applied since 1 January 2026. It extends the qualifying first-registration date for pure electric vehicles from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2030.
The exemption itself lasts up to ten years but is granted at most until 31 December 2035. That hard stop means the later you register, the shorter your exemption.
When it ends, the tax does not start in full. It is halved: weight-based taxation under § 9(1)(3) of the Act, reduced by 50 percent under § 9(2).
The exemption follows the car, not the owner. On a sale, the new keeper takes over whatever remains of it.

For years Germany's motor vehicle tax exemption for pure electric cars came with a deadline that was always about to arrive: register by the end of 2025 or miss it. Since 1 January 2026 the arithmetic is different. The Eighth Act amending the Motor Vehicle Tax Act, promulgated on 22 December 2025, moves the qualifying first-registration date five years out, to 31 December 2030. At the same time it caps the benefit at 31 December 2035. Those two dates together produce a consequence that rarely travels with the headline: a full ten years is now only for those who were early.

What the Eighth Amendment actually changed

Germany's customs administration, which administers the tax, puts it plainly in its notice: the first-registration deadline was extended "bis zum 31. Dezember 2030", and the exemption is granted "längstens bis zum 31. Dezember 2035". Vehicles registered before 1 January 2026 keep the full ten-year exemption. Everything registered after that gets the shortened period running to the cut-off. Per the customs guidance, the benefit covers vehicles first registered between 18 May 2011 and 31 December 2030.

Why ten years is no longer ten years

First registered by 31 December 2025 — the full ten years — the 2035 cut-off never bites
First registered 1 January 2026 — just under ten years — the exemption ends on 31 December 2035, shortly before the ten years are up
First registered 1 January 2028 — about eight years — ten years would run to 2038; the cut-off truncates it
First registered 1 January 2030 — about six years — same mechanism, four years less
First registered 31 December 2030 — five years — the last day on which a first registration qualifies at all

What comes after the exemption: not zero, but half

When the exemption ends, an electric car is not taxed like a combustion car. Customs states that the tax payable thereafter "ermäßigt sich … um 50 Prozent". The legal basis is § 9(2) of the Motor Vehicle Tax Act, under which the tax is reduced "um 50 vom Hundert des Betrags" arising under subsection 1 number 3, for vehicles driven exclusively by electric motors. Electric cars are therefore taxed not on engine displacement and carbon dioxide but on permissible gross weight.

Up to 2,000 kg permissible gross weight — 11.25 euros per 200 kg started — halved: 5.625 euros, the rate an electric car actually pays
Over 2,000 up to 3,000 kg — 12.02 euros per 200 kg started — halved: 6.01 euros
Over 3,000 up to 3,500 kg — 12.78 euros per 200 kg started — halved: 6.39 euros

What that is in euros

The ADAC works it through on a car that stays inside the lowest bracket: a first-generation BMW i3 with a permissible gross weight of 1,630 kilograms comes to at least 50 euros a year. The path is easy to follow because the statute says "per 200 kilograms started": 1,630 kilograms is nine started units, nine times 11.25 euros is 101.25 euros, halved is roughly 50 euros. A car at 1,900 kilograms would be ten units — 112.50 euros in full, 56.25 euros halved. The permissible gross weight for any given car is in field F.2 of the German registration certificate, part I.

Two rules that are easy to miss

The exemption attaches to the vehicle, not to the person. Customs states that on a change of keeper, "die neue Halterin oder der neue Halter" takes over whatever duration of the exemption remains. A used electric car therefore arrives with the remainder of its exemption — and only the remainder. Buying a 2021 car in 2026 buys five remaining years, not ten fresh ones.

The benefit is also not limited to factory-built electric cars. According to the customs guidance, vehicles converted to pure electric drive between 18 May 2016 and 31 December 2030 likewise receive ten years, again at most until 31 December 2035. Here the clock starts not at first registration but on the day the registration authority confirms that the conversion requirements are met.

Sources

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