Electric car subsidy in the Netherlands: what applies in 2026

Is there still a subsidy for buying an electric car in the Netherlands? The purchase subsidy for private buyers closed on 1 January 2025.¹ With that scheme gone, the cost of driving electric here is now mostly a tax question.

Bijtelling, motorrijtuigenbelasting and BPM decide what an electric car really costs you. We take you through all three with the figures for 2026.

Three readers use this page: a private buyer, a business owner with a car on the books and someone offered one through work. Each of the three meets a different combination of the three.

This page covers passenger cars that run fully on electricity. It leaves out plug-in hybrids, electric vans, home charge points and anything your municipality may offer. This is general information, not personal advice.

Tarik runs his own project-management business in Rotterdam. He drives a fully electric car that belongs to the business.

These are the points that decide the cost.

What happened to the electric car subsidy? The old scheme paid a fixed amount towards the purchase and no longer runs.¹ Its full name was the Subsidieregeling Elektrische Personenauto's Particulieren, the subsidy for private buyers of an electric car.¹ Most people knew it as the SEPP.

Your province or municipality may run something of its own, so it is worth a look before you buy.

The government announced a new scheme in April 2026 for people on a low or middle income.² They would scrap an old petrol or diesel car and buy a second-hand fully electric one instead. Parliament still has to approve it.

So what exactly has been announced?

What do you pay on an electric car in 2026? One addition to your taxable income and two taxes: bijtelling, motorrijtuigenbelasting and BPM.

Bijtelling is the taxable benefit for private use of a car that belongs to your business.³ You add a percentage of the catalogue value to your profit.³ The catalogue value is the Dutch list price including VAT and BPM.³

You add nothing if you can show that you drove no more than 500 private kilometres in the year.³

Motorrijtuigenbelasting is the road tax you pay for owning a car. A zero-emission passenger car still carries a discount on that rate in 2026.⁴

BPM is the registration tax you pay when a car first enters the Dutch register. An electric car emits no CO2, so it pays only the fixed base amount, the vaste voet.⁵

The table below sets the three side by side, plus the two vehicle types that fall outside the discount.

How much bijtelling do you add for an electric car? You add 18% of the catalogue value up to €30,000, then 22% above it.³

Your percentage stays fixed for 60 months.³ That period starts on the first day of the month after the month of first registration.³ A rate rise in a later year therefore leaves your car alone until the period ends.

Cars first registered in 2021 came in at 12%.³ Their 60-month period runs out during 2026. The 2026 rules then take over for the remaining months of that year.³

A hydrogen car keeps the 18% over the whole catalogue value.³ So does a car driven entirely by integrated solar cells.³ For every other zero-emission car the €30,000 ceiling applies.³

Does your employer provide the car instead? Then your bijtelling runs through your payroll, not your profit. The same 18% and 22% apply, set by the year of first registration.³ Your employer withholds the tax each month through your payslip.

The reduced percentage climbs every year until the ceiling disappears, as the table shows.

How much bijtelling does Tarik add in 2026? Tarik adds €8,700 to his profit for the year.

His car has a catalogue value of €45,000 and first entered the register in 2026. The 2026 percentages therefore apply. He drives well over 500 private kilometres a year, which is what brings the bijtelling into play.

The first €30,000 counts at 18%, which gives €5,400. The remaining €15,000 counts at 22%, which gives €3,300. Together that is €8,700 a year on top of his profit.

What he pays on that amount depends on his own income tax rate. Our page on work and income sets out the rates that apply. His 18% stays in place for 60 months, so the step to 20% in 2027 leaves his car untouched.

Knowing the amount is one thing. Putting it in the right place in your return is the next step.

What do you pay if you buy the electric car yourself? You pay road tax at 70% of the normal rate.⁴ BPM you pay once, at the fixed base amount only.⁵

That 30% discount on motorrijtuigenbelasting runs from 2026 through 2028.⁴ In 2029 the discount drops to 25%.⁴ From 2030 an electric car pays the full rate.⁴

The discount evens out the weight of the battery. The rate follows the weight of the car.⁴ It covers new and second-hand zero-emission passenger cars alike.⁶ A plug-in hybrid or an electric van gets no discount after 2025.⁶

BPM works differently. The exemption for zero-emission passenger cars ended on 1 January 2025.⁵ An electric car emits no CO2, so it pays only the fixed base amount.⁵ That base amount moves with the tax year. We check it against the figure for the year your car goes on the register.

Do you bring an electric car with you from abroad? Then it enters the Dutch register for the first time, so BPM applies.⁵ Are you moving your household to the Netherlands? Then a removal exemption may apply, depending on your situation. Otherwise the amount depends on the age of the car and the tax year.

How does our advisor look at that choice?

What should you check before you buy or lease? Check the tax year, the catalogue value and who owns the car.

Every rate here belongs to one tax year. Your bijtelling percentage is set by the year of first registration and then holds for 60 months.³ The road-tax discount steps down over the years.⁴ They matter more the longer you keep the car.

Do you want to put the car on your business? Then depreciation and the investment allowances come into play. We check which ones still apply to an electric passenger car. Our page on deductible business costs shows how a car sits among your other expenses. If you work for yourself, the page on the self-employed deduction covers the reliefs around it.

Thinking about two wheels instead? Our page on the company bike scheme covers the bike and its own bijtelling rate.

We look at the car alongside the rest of your return, so nothing lands as a surprise. Tarik runs the same three checks. His rate stays fixed for now.