Electric car tax in Germany: how long your EV stays tax-free

What the law says

Section 3d KraftStG exempts electric vehicles from vehicle tax if they were first registered between 18 May 2011 and 31 December 2030. The exemption runs for 10 years from that date and ends on 31 December 2035 at the latest. Nothing has to be applied for: the registration office records the drive type in field P.3 of the registration certificate, and customs, which runs the tax, follows that entry.

An electric vehicle, for tax purposes, is one driven exclusively by electric motors fed mainly from batteries, other mechanical or electrochemical storage, or emission-free energy converters such as fuel cells. Range extenders and plug-in hybrids have an engine, so they are out. If you are choosing between a plug-in and a full EV partly for tax reasons, this is the dividing line.

You do not need to file anything separately. Under Section 12a(2) and (6) KraftStG the vehicle registration itself counts as the tax declaration, and a note in it is enough to claim the exemption. Customs then normally sends a notice that states when the exemption ends. Keep that letter with your car papers; it is the simplest way to know the date your first bill will arrive, years from now, perhaps after you have changed address or bank twice.

Find your end date

For cars first registered up to the end of 2025 the full ten years fit before the 2035 cut-off. For any first registration after 31 December 2025 the cut-off bites, and every later registration gets a shorter exemption. Here are sample dates for a car with 2,232 kg permitted total weight, a typical figure for a mid-size battery SUV:

The 2013 car is already paying in 2026. An EV first registered on the last day of 2030 gets just five years. A car first registered in 2031 or later gets no exemption at all under the law as it stands today.

Bringing an EV to Germany

People relocating from the Netherlands, Norway, the UK or further afield often bring their electric car. The exemption is tied to the first registration date of the vehicle, wherever that was, and it is granted only once per vehicle (Section 3d(2)). Your German registration simply inherits whatever is left. A Norwegian EV first registered in 2015 used up its ten years in 2025; since then it pays the reduced weight tax in Germany like any other.

Check the converted figures on your new German certificate. Field F.2 should show the permitted total weight from the original documents. A wrong weight or a missing electric drive code means a wrong tax notice, and corrections go through the registration office, because Section 2(2) KraftStG makes its records binding on customs.

After the exemption: half the weight tax

Electric cars have no engine size, so Section 8 No. 2 KraftStG taxes them by permitted total weight under Section 9(1) No. 3: €11.25 per started 200 kg up to 2,000 kg, €12.02 from 2,000 to 3,000 kg and €12.78 up to 3,500 kg, each rate only for the kilos in its band. Section 9(2) then halves the result for electric vehicles.

Even a heavy electric SUV stays below a hundred euros a year. The reduction has no end date in the current text. For a car first registered in October 2026, the bill in 2036 would be €68.

How long your EV stays tax-free

First registered2012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024202520262027202820292030

Permitted total weight

kg

Tax-free until

01.06.2034

Afterwards per year	€62
Without the reduction it would be	€124

Assumes first registration in June of the chosen year.

Open the full vehicle tax calculator →

The sum, step by step

Take an EV with 2,232 kg permitted total weight. The first 2,000 kg are ten blocks at €11.25, which makes €112.50. The remaining 232 kg are two started blocks at €12.02, adding €24.04. The full weight tax would be €136.54; halved it is €68.27, and rounding down gives €68. One kilo over a 200 kg step adds a whole block, but at these rates that is only a few euros.

Electric motorbikes and vans

Section 3d covers every electric vehicle within the meaning of Section 9(2), not just cars. An electric motorbike or scooter with official registration plates, or an electric van, gets the same ten years. Afterwards an e-motorbike is taxed by weight too, because the per-25 cm³ rate for motorbikes applies only to piston engines; the result is again halved. Above 3,500 kg the halving applies to the heavy vehicle rates of Section 9(1) No. 4(a).

Timing a purchase

If you are planning to buy new, the remaining exemption is easy to work out. A car first registered in June 2028 is tax-free until 31 December 2035, roughly seven and a half years. That sounds like a big loss, but the missing years only cost the halved weight rate, so the difference is small in euros. When buying used, the clock runs from field B, not from your purchase date, and dealers do not always mention it. Leasing an EV for three years usually means the whole contract falls within the exemption.

At registration Section 13(1) KraftStG requires the SEPA mandate only where tax is due; for an exempt car proof of the exemption conditions is enough. Once the exemption ends, customs needs a way to collect, so expect a letter from the Hauptzollamt if no mandate is on file. Newcomers who registered the car before opening a German account should bear this in mind.

Selling, buying used, pausing

When you sell an EV whose exemption is still running, the buyer takes over the remaining years. When you buy one, its first registration date tells you how long you will pay nothing, which makes three- or four-year-old EVs good value on the tax side. Taking the car off the road does not stretch the exemption: Section 3d(3) says time spent deregistered or outside a seasonal plate period has no effect. If you leave Germany for a year and deregister the car, the clock keeps running.

Converted cars

A petrol or diesel car converted into a fully electric one can also qualify. Section 3d(4) requires the conversion to be done between 18 May 2016 and 31 December 2030, with a general type approval (Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis) for the conversion parts under the German vehicle registration rules (StVZO). The exemption then starts on the day the registration office confirms these conditions, not on the car's original registration date, and it is capped by the same 2035 deadline.

When the bill starts

The day after the exemption ends, liability begins automatically (Section 5(2) KraftStG). Customs issues a new notice and uses your SEPA mandate as for any other car, and the one-month minimum does not apply. To check the figure for your exact weight, use the vehicle tax calculator; for notices, deadlines and refunds see the German vehicle tax overview. Very old EVs registered before 18 May 2011 still fall under an earlier version of Section 3d (Section 18(4b)); the Finance Ministry calculator handles those.

Keepers with a severe disability can reduce or remove even the post-exemption tax, as explained under vehicle tax relief for disabled drivers. Compared with a diesel car, the tax saving over ten years easily reaches four figures. An EV still needs the regular roadworthiness test (HU), without the exhaust check; prices are on the TÜV cost page.