Applying for the 2026 EV grant
From setting up BundID to the payment: which steps come in which order, which documents BAFA wants to see, and where applications most often get stuck.
Worked through by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Your documents for the application
Documents as PDF
7
| Income tax assessments | 4 |
| Registration certificate and contract | 2 |
| Proof of children | 1 |
| CoC for the range | 0 |
| Apply at the latest in (registered 2026) | November 2027 |
At most 5 MB per file. From each assessment, only the pages with addressee, tax ID, date, tax year and taxable income.
You apply for Germany’s 2026 EV grant online through the federal funding portal (Förderzentrale), and only once the car is registered to you. Before that, no application and no reservation is possible. After it you have 12 months; the registration date counts, not the date of the purchase contract. To log in you need a BundID account with the online ID function (Online-Ausweis) or an ELSTER certificate; a basic sign-up with username and password is not enough. You upload PDFs of at most 5 MB each: the 2 most recent income tax assessments (Einkommensteuerbescheid) of every adult in the household, part I of the registration certificate (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I), the purchase or lease contract, proof of Kindergeld if you have children, and for a plug-in hybrid above 60 g CO2/km the certificate of conformity (CoC). BAFA processes complete applications in order of arrival and pays into the keeper’s account a few weeks after the grant notice (Zuwendungsbescheid). There is no legal entitlement; the grant depends on available funds. By 1 October 2026, 97,790 applications had been approved.
The order that matters
- Check your income. Work out household income from the assessments and compare it with the limit for your number of children. The grant calculator does this in one step.
- Set up BundID. Create a BundID account with the online ID function or an ELSTER certificate. With ELSTER this takes a few days because of the letter with the activation code.
- Buy or lease the car. A new M1 passenger car that has never been registered.
- Register it. To you personally, in Germany. The application deadline and holding period start that day.
- Apply. Through the federal funding portal, with all documents as PDFs.
- Wait for the grant notice. BAFA checks in order of arrival.
- Payment. A few weeks after the notice, into the keeper’s account.
- Keep the car and the papers. 36 months of registration, documents kept for 5 years.
The application deadline
You must apply within 12 months of the car being registered to you. BAFA makes clear that the registration date counts, not the date of the purchase or lease contract. The table shows some examples, worked out by this site’s engine.
| Registration | Apply by | Hold until |
|---|---|---|
| 12 March 2026 | 12 March 2027 | 11 March 2029 |
| 30 November 2026 | 30 November 2027 | 29 November 2029 |
| 30 June 2027 | 30 June 2028 | 29 June 2030 |
| 31 December 2029 | 31 December 2030 | 30 December 2032 |
However keen you are, nothing can be brought forward: an application before registration is not accepted. Equally, there is no disadvantage in applying a few weeks after registration if your documents are then complete. Because BAFA handles complete applications in order of arrival, completeness counts for more than speed.
The documents
BAFA’s leaflet on supporting documents and its page on preparing the application list what to upload. Everything must be PDF, at most 5 MB per file; several files are fine.
| Document | When | What must be legible |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax assessments | always, 2 per adult | addressee, tax ID, date, tax year, taxable income |
| Registration certificate part I | always | complete, front and back |
| Purchase or lease contract | always | complete |
| Kindergeld proof | with children under 18 | recipient, child’s name and date of birth, Kindergeld number, date, address |
| Vehicle CoC | plug-in hybrid above 60 g CO2/km | electric range under item 49.5 |
| Power of attorney | if someone else applies | signed by the keeper |
For married couples assessed jointly, one joint assessment per year covers both. Documents must be in German or come with a certified translation. Without a scanner you can scan with a smartphone; BAFA has published instructions for this. Make sure no page is cut off and that black-outs are only on the copy.
The small calculator above counts how many files your household needs and shows the application deadline for your registration month.
BundID
Logging in to the application portal requires a digital identity with a sufficient level of trust. Two routes are accepted:
- Online ID function: German ID card, electronic residence permit or eID card with the online function activated and a six-digit PIN, read by a smartphone or card reader.
- ELSTER certificate: the certificate file from your ELSTER account, which many people already have for their tax return.
If you have forgotten your PIN, the citizens’ office (Bürgeramt) can set a new one. If you have no ELSTER account yet, allow about two weeks for the letter with the activation code.
Power of attorney and payment
You can authorise another person or a dealer to apply for you. The authorised person logs in with their own BundID account or, as a business, with “Mein Unternehmenskonto”, and uploads the power of attorney. The bank details given are always the keeper’s. The applicant is always the keeper (Halter), the person the car is registered to; the buyer or lessee, on the other hand, can be someone else.
An example from order to payment
The Becker family orders an electric car in July. While waiting for delivery they set up BundID with the online ID function and gather both partners’ assessments for the last two years. The car is registered on 30 November 2026. Two days later they apply with four assessments, the registration certificate, the contract and the Kindergeld certificate. They would have had until 30 November 2027. A few weeks after the grant notice the money arrives, and the car must stay registered to them until 29 November 2029.
Where applications get stuck
- An assessment is missing, such as the partner’s in an unmarried couple.
- An assessment is more than 3 tax years old or not the most recent.
- The name on the registration certificate does not match the applicant.
- A file is larger than 5 MB or not a PDF.
- The car was already registered, for example as a pre-registration; it then does not qualify.
- The bank account does not belong to the keeper.
After approval
The grant notice brings obligations that last until the end of the holding period. The car must stay registered to you in Germany for 36 continuous months. A sale, deregistration, write-off or theft in that time must be reported to BAFA. What follows is under holding period and resale. Keep all documents for 5 years. How many applications have been approved so far and how they break down is shown in the approval statistics.