Electric vehicle purchase and leasing grant

• You must be at least 18, have your principal residence in Germany, and be the person to whom the car is first registered in Germany. Your nationality does not matter. The registered keeper can differ from the buyer or lessee. A self-employed person can apply privately, but the car must stay outside business assets. Companies, associations and municipalities cannot apply. If several applications concern the same car, only the first application BAFA receives is decisive.
• The vehicle must never previously have been registered in Germany or elsewhere. Used cars, day registrations, factory registrations and demonstrators with a previous registration are excluded. The purchase location, including outside the EU, does not affect eligibility.
• A plug-in hybrid or range-extender car must have no more than 60 g CO₂/km or at least 80 km electric urban range, and be first registered no later than 30 June 2027. Check the manufacturer's EU Certificate of Conformity (CoC): use the weighted combined WLTP CO₂ figure in field 49.4 or the equivalent all-electric urban range, EAER city, in field 49.5. These are prescribed test figures, not the distance you personally achieve. The directive also treats M1 cars of any drivetrain with 0 g CO₂/km as battery-electric cars, and M1 cars with no more than 60 g/km as externally rechargeable hybrids.
• You can receive this grant once, for one vehicle; the same vehicle can receive it only once. BAFA states a maximum of two applications per household. Economically independent adults sharing a flat can each apply for a car registered in their own name if they meet the income and other conditions.
• You cannot apply if insolvency proceedings concerning your assets have been requested or opened, or if you have made, or are obliged to make, a formal disclosure of assets to enforcement or tax authorities.

Your household means people sharing a lasting home and finances. Add your taxable income to that of a spouse, registered civil partner or marriage-like partner living with you when you apply. For each contributing person, average the taxable income shown on their two most recent consecutive tax-year assessments, then add those averages; jointly assessed partners use the joint assessments. The tax years, rather than assessment issue dates, must be no more than three calendar years before application. Use the assessed taxable income, not gross salary. Income of working children living with you is excluded. Later changes to income or status do not change the grant.

Two unmarried adults with the same principal address who are not registered civil partners are presumed to form a marriage-like household. You can rebut that presumption with a credible self-declaration that you permanently manage your finances separately.

The income limit is €80,000 without qualifying children, €85,000 with one and €90,000 with two or more. A qualifying child must live in your household, have an entitlement to German child benefit, and be under 18 on the car's first-registration date. At most two children affect the grant. For shared custody, BAFA follows the household allocation agreed by the parents for child benefit.

The car cannot already have received this grant or comparable state acquisition support in another EU country. For parallel applications, the earlier approval controls. Other public support is also excluded unless that funder has an administrative agreement with the environment ministry; disclose any prior application to such an agreed public funder. Comparable support means a payment for the same purpose that directly reduces acquisition costs.

Keep the car continuously registered to you in Germany for at least 36 months, and do not transfer it into business assets during that period. A 24-month lease does not shorten this obligation. Tell BAFA immediately if registration ends early, including sale, theft or total loss; BAFA can reclaim part or all of the grant after assessing the circumstances.

Tell BAFA immediately if a purchase or lease is unwound or the vehicle is returned through a comparable reversal: normally the whole grant plus interest must be repaid. If the reversal follows statutory warranty rights, recovery is avoided when you register an equivalent qualifying replacement within six months. The retention period extends by the gap between reversal and new registration; promptly send BAFA the deregistration and replacement registration certificates. If the keeper dies, an heir can re-register the car and complete the remaining retention period, providing an inheritance certificate.

Status

lukker 31. dec. 2029

Åbner

19. maj 2026

Lukker

31. dec. 2029

Vilkår for ansøgningsrunden

• Apply after first German registration, within 12 months; approvals require available funds. Battery-electric and fuel-cell first registrations: 1 January 2026–31 December 2029; qualifying plug-in hybrids and range extenders: 1 January 2026–30 June 2027. The directive expires on 31 December 2029.

Buy or lease the qualifying car and first register it to the applicant in Germany. Then apply to BAFA electronically through Förderzentrale Deutschland within 12 months of that registration. Applications have been possible since 19 May 2026, including retrospectively for qualifying registrations from January. You cannot apply before registration, and the contract date does not start the application deadline. BAFA processes complete applications in arrival order.

Prepare the car's 17-character vehicle identification number and a BundID authenticated with an online identity card or ELSTER certificate. A username-and-password basic account cannot submit an application. You may appoint another individual or a dealer; upload the prescribed power of attorney. The representative needs BundID or Mein Unternehmenskonto, while you remain the applicant and payment recipient. Enter the registered keeper's own bank account.

Upload these documents as PDFs, no larger than 5 MB each:

• The two current consecutive tax-year assessments for every person whose income counts; joint assessments suffice for jointly assessed years. If you do not have assessments, you can file tax returns retrospectively, including a voluntary return showing zero taxable income. BAFA's preparation instructions also accept a tax-office Nichtveranlagungs-Bescheinigung (NV certificate), confirming that tax assessment is unnecessary, if taxable household annual income is below the annual basic tax-free allowance. It must be valid when you apply and cover that application period; everyone whose income counts needs the required assessment evidence or qualifying NV certificate.
• For children: a child-benefit certificate from the Familienkasse, an extended residence-registration certificate, or a child-benefit decision with your declaration that it is still current and the children still live with you. The proof must show birth dates.
• For a plug-in hybrid or range-extender car with more than 60 g CO₂/km: the CoC proving at least 80 km of qualifying electric range.

On tax evidence, retain the addressee, tax identification number, date, tax year and taxable annual income. Submit only pages containing these details and redact other information on copies, never original documents. Child-benefit proof needs the recipient, child's name and birth date, child-benefit number, decision date and full address; other information can be redacted. Documents must be in German, or accompanied by a German translation prepared by a state-qualified, publicly appointed or sworn translator or interpreter.

BAFA checks the complete evidence and pays your account after approval; its FAQ says payment follows within a few weeks of the grant notice. Provide complete, truthful income information: false information can lead to withdrawal and recovery even after approval becomes final. First registration establishes the funded use, and BAFA checks retention through the vehicle register; no separate use report or expenditure account is required. Keep all grant-relevant records for at least five years and present them on request. Failure to retain and supply them can lead to recovery plus interest.