Germany’s EV grant 2026: what your household gets

Three households, three results

What you receive rarely depends on the price of the car. It depends on household income. Three examples, all first registered in November 2026 and worked out by this site’s engine:

The first example is the rule at its simplest: €38,000 and €40,000 average out at €39,000, inside the first band up to €45,000. In the second, an unmarried couple share a home. Counted alone, the higher earner’s €44,000 would still be in the first band and bring €5,000. But two adults with the same main residence are treated as a marriage-like partnership, so both incomes count: €64,000, third band, €3,000. The third household, at €86,000, is above the general limit of €80,000. With two children under 18 the limit rises to €90,000 and the family gets €4,000. With only one child the limit would be €85,000 and the grant €0.

Two adults: what the household gets

Person 1: average taxable income

€

Person 2: average taxable income

€

Children under 18

0123 or more

Grant for a battery electric car

€3,000

Household income	€64,000
Limit for this number of children	€80,000
Person 1 counted alone	€5,000

Both incomes count together, married or not, as long as both live in the same household.

Calculate with every detail →

Household income in one paragraph

The figure that counts is taxable income under section 2(5) of the Income Tax Act, the line labelled zu versteuerndes Einkommen on your tax assessment, not gross pay and not take-home pay. For each adult in the household the last two assessments are averaged; the household is the applicant plus a spouse, registered partner or partner in a marriage-like relationship. Children do not add income, they add a top-up. Couples assessed jointly already have one shared figure. Separate assessments, a partner with no income or a move during the year are covered under household income, the limits themselves under income limit.

Battery electric or plug-in hybrid

Battery electric cars and fuel cell cars qualify if first registered by 31 December 2029. Plug-in hybrids and range extenders get less, only until 30 June 2027, and only if they emit at most 60 g CO2 per km or drive at least 80 km on electricity; both figures are on the car’s certificate of conformity. The ministry has announced a separate call for plug-in hybrids after that date, with no details yet. The rules and a hybrid’s vehicle tax are on plug-in hybrid grant.

Buying or leasing

Both are funded alike and both are about equally common: just under half of the approvals up to October were leases. The catch is the holding period. The car has to stay registered in Germany to the applicant for 36 months without a break. A two-year lease does not cover that, and returning the car early can lead to part or all of the grant being reclaimed. The grant also goes to the registered keeper (Halter), not to the leasing company, and does not lower the monthly rate by itself. See leasing and holding period.

Four steps from contract to payment

1. Buy or lease a new car: not a pre-registered car or a demonstrator. Where you buy does not matter, even abroad; it is registered in Germany.
2. Register it in your name. Both deadlines start that day. Registered in November 2026, you must apply by November 2027 and keep the car until October 2029.
3. Apply on the portal of the federal funding centre, signed in with BundID using the online ID function (Online-Ausweis) or an ELSTER certificate. A BundID account with just a user name and password is not enough.
4. Decision and payment: BAFA checks complete applications in the order they arrive; the money follows a few weeks after the grant decision.

Which documents to upload and how to black out your tax assessments is on how to apply. BAFA’s own notes are under “Antrag vorbereiten”.

Registered in month X: when the deadlines fall

Month of registration

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember

Year

2026202720282029

Apply at the latest in

November 2027

Keep the car at least until	October 2029
Battery electric inside the period	yes
Plug-in hybrid inside the period	yes

Counted from the 1st of the month; what counts is the day of first registration. Apply only after registration, at most 12 months later.

Calculate the grant →

What is not funded

Used cars, pre-registered cars, demonstrators and factory registrations are excluded, as are cars held as business assets. Self-employed people can apply for a car they hold privately, not for a company car; a company car registered by the employer brings the employee nothing. There is no price cap: an expensive electric car qualifies too if the household is under the income limit. Nor is there an official list of eligible models. Receiving other public funding for the same car rules the grant out unless an administrative agreement with the federal ministry expressly allows it. Manufacturer discounts and bonuses are not affected, since they are price reductions. More on new cars only, self-employed and company cars and combining bonuses.

What comes on top of the grant

Two benefits do not depend on your income. Battery electric cars first registered by 31 December 2030 pay no vehicle tax for ten years, at the latest until 31 December 2035, and half the normal rate after that; the vehicle tax calculator shows what that means for your car’s weight. And the keeper of an electric car can sell its greenhouse gas quota every year: the Federal Environment Agency credits a flat 2,000 kWh of electricity per car, and a provider pays a market price for it that stood above €300 in October 2026. The GHG quota calculator adds that up over several years. There is no federal grant for a home wallbox in 2026; apartment buildings have a Transport Ministry programme, see wallbox grant.

Why our data changes the answer

The rules are in the guideline of 19 May 2026, on BAFA’s eligibility page and in its FAQ; the Federal Environment Ministry explains the programme. None of them works out your case: they give the bands, not the amount that comes out of two people’s four tax assessments. This site does better than the first Google result because it fills that gap: it averages each adult’s two assessments into your household’s amount, shows the price after the grant for 21 models with the manufacturer’s dated list price, turns the application deadline and holding period into calendar months, and explains the cases where applications fail.

To do that we join three sets of data that usually sit apart. First, BAFA’s approval statistics as of 1 October 2026, which list every model with its number of approved applications; we have added up each model’s variants. Second, the Federal Motor Transport Authority’s new registrations by make and model range for each month from January to September 2026, from the official FZ10 table. Third, the manufacturers’ price lists, read on 19 October 2026, with version, battery and source. Where a manufacturer publishes no readable price, we show none. The most approved car so far is the Tesla Model Y, with 8,297 applications; the cheapest car with a list price on our list is the Dacia Spring at €17,900, leaving €12,900 after the top grant without children. Every model is on eligible models.

Edge cases where applications get stuck

• Living together unmarried: two adults with the same main residence count as one household unless they credibly declare that they are not in a marriage-like relationship. In a flat share, each person is a household of their own.
• Children in two homes: under shared care the child counts for the parent who receives child benefit (Kindergeld). What matters is the age on the day of first registration; see children bonus.
• Pensioners without an assessment: if you are not required to file, you can file voluntarily to obtain an assessment; one showing zero counts. See pensioners.
• Selling, crashing or losing the car: if the registration ends before 36 months, report it to BAFA; any repayment is decided case by case.

If you have just moved to Germany

Nationality plays no part, and buying the car abroad is allowed as long as it is first registered here. What newcomers often lack is the paperwork: the grant is calculated from German income tax assessments, two per adult, and documents in other languages need a sworn translation. Without German assessments the income cannot be shown the way BAFA asks for it. What that means in practice, and how to sign in to BundID with a foreign ID card or residence permit, is on new to Germany.

Where the programme stands

Applications opened on 19 May 2026. By 1 October 2026 BAFA had approved 97,790 applications and paid out 432 million euros (BAFA statistics). Just over half the approvals went to households up to €45,000. The guideline runs until 31 December 2029, but only while budget funds are available; there is no legal entitlement. The breakdown is on approval statistics, the dates up to 31 December 2029 on how long it runs.

This site is independent and is not BAFA. Results are estimates under the wording of the guideline and replace neither the grant decision nor advice. How we calculate, and which cases the calculator does not cover, is set out under how we calculate.