The income limit for the 2026 EV grant
Which band your household falls in, how much room is left before the next cut, and what happens when income sits exactly on a limit.
Worked through by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
How far is your income from the next limit?
Grant
€4,000
| Band | band 2 |
| Room before the next cut | €2,000 |
| Amount after that | €3,000 |
| Upper limit for this number of children | €80,000 |
Limits are inclusive: income exactly on a limit still gets the higher amount. Worked with a registration in November 2026.
Germany’s 2026 EV grant depends on the household’s taxable income (zu versteuerndes Einkommen, zvE), not on gross salary. The guideline has three bands: up to €45,000, up to €60,000 and up to €80,000. A battery electric car brings €5,000, €4,000 or €3,000 without children; a qualifying plug-in hybrid €3,500, €2,500 or €1,500. The limits are inclusive: exactly €45,000 stays in the first band, one euro more moves you into the second. Above €80,000 there is only something with children: each qualifying child raises the ceiling by €5,000, up to €90,000 with two. In that range the third-band amount applies. Above the ceiling there is nothing, not even a partial grant. For each adult in the household, the average of the last two income tax assessments (Einkommensteuerbescheid) counts, and the sum is the household income.
The guideline’s table
The funding guideline (Förderrichtlinie) sets the amounts in a grid: rows by income, columns by number of children. Battery electric and fuel cell cars use the first table, plug-in hybrids and range extenders the second. The BAFA overview shows the same values.
| Household income | No children | 1 child | 2 children |
|---|---|---|---|
| €0 to €45,000 | €5,000 | €5,500 | €6,000 |
| €45,001 to €60,000 | €4,000 | €4,500 | €5,000 |
| €60,001 to €80,000 | €3,000 | €3,500 | €4,000 |
| €80,001 to €85,000 | none | €3,500 | €4,000 |
| €85,001 to €90,000 | none | none | €4,000 |
| Household income | No children | 1 child | 2 children |
|---|---|---|---|
| €0 to €45,000 | €3,500 | €4,000 | €4,500 |
| €45,001 to €60,000 | €2,500 | €3,000 | €3,500 |
| €60,001 to €80,000 | €1,500 | €2,000 | €2,500 |
| €80,001 to €85,000 | none | €2,000 | €2,500 |
| €85,001 to €90,000 | none | none | €2,500 |
Each band step is worth €1,000 for a battery electric car, and the same for a plug-in hybrid. Each child adds €500 in every band. The columns show that children work twice: they raise the amount and they move the ceiling.
Edge cases, euro by euro
The cases below are worked out by this site’s engine for a battery electric car registered in November 2026. They show exactly where the jumps are.
| Household income | Children | Grant |
|---|---|---|
| €45,000 | 0 | €5,000 |
| €45,001 | 0 | €4,000 |
| €60,000 | 0 | €4,000 |
| €60,001 | 0 | €3,000 |
| €80,000 | 0 | €3,000 |
| €80,001 | 0 | €0 |
| €80,001 | 1 | €3,500 |
| €85,001 | 1 | €0 |
| €85,001 | 2 | €4,000 |
| €90,000 | 2 | €4,000 |
| €90,001 | 2 | €0 |
Note the range just above €80,000: a household without children gets nothing there, one with a child gets €3,500. At €85,001 one child is no longer enough, two are. A third child changes nothing, because the guideline counts at most 2 children.
What “taxable income” means
Taxable income is defined in section 2(5) of the Income Tax Act (EStG). It is what remains as the basis for income tax after all deductions. Off gross pay come, among other things: work-related expenses (at least the flat allowance), pension, health and care insurance contributions, donations, church tax and other special expenses, and extraordinary costs. For the self-employed the starting point is profit, not turnover. The figure is on your assessment, usually on page two or three, on the line “zu versteuerndes Einkommen”.
Because deductions vary so much, you cannot reliably derive taxable income from a gross salary. This calculator therefore only asks for the figure on the assessment. If you have no assessment for last year yet, you can file a tax return; only assessments count for the grant, not returns and not the annual payroll tax certificate (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung).
The two-year average
For each adult in the household, the mean taxable income from the two most recent assessments counts; the means are then added. A year with a severance payment or an unusually good business result therefore only weighs half. BAFA names this explicitly as the purpose of the average. The detailed sum with two people and four assessments is on household income. How fluctuating profits play out is under self-employed and company cars.
How much room you have
The small calculator above shows the distance to the next cut. An example: a couple without children averages €58,000. They are in the second band and get €4,000 for a battery electric car. The next limit is €2,000 away; above it they would get €3,000. At €44,800 they would get €5,000, which is €1,000 more. Nothing can be changed after applying, but before that, which two assessments are the latest depends on when you file your return and when the tax office processes it.
Five households compared
The figures in this table are assumptions for the average of two assessments, not typical values for a profession. They show how differently households with similar gross pay can be placed.
| Household | Household income | Children | Battery electric | Plug-in hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single nurse | €38,000 | 0 | €5,000 | €3,500 |
| Single parent teacher, one child | €46,000 | 1 | €4,500 | €3,000 |
| Couple with one child | €83,000 | 1 | €3,500 | €2,000 |
| Couple with two children | €89,500 | 2 | €4,000 | €2,500 |
| Couple without children, two full-time jobs | €86,000 | 0 | €0 | €0 |
The couple without children and two full-time jobs is above the limit at €86,000 and gets nothing, although each of them alone would be in the first or second band. The couple with two children is just under the highest ceiling of €90,000 at €89,500 and receives the third-band amount for two children. People who live together count together, married or not; the rules are under household income.
How BAFA checks the limit
BAFA does not work from your own figures but from the uploaded assessments. It only needs a few details from them: addressee, tax ID, date, tax year and the amount of taxable income. Other pages need not be submitted, and you may black out anything not needed, but only on the copy. Assessments may be at most 3 years old, measured by the tax year assessed, not the date the tax office sent them.
What does not count towards the limit
- Income of adult children living in the household: it is left out.
- Tax-free payments such as Kindergeld, parental allowance or housing benefit: they are not part of taxable income. Whether they raise your tax rate through the progression clause does not matter for the grant.
- Wealth: savings, property and investments play no part, only their taxable returns where they appear in taxable income.
- The car’s price: there is no price cap on the vehicle.
What the grant comes to for a particular car, with list price and net price, is on the grant calculator.