The Netherlands continues to lead the way for electrification in the new decade. With its forward-thinking approach to EV policy and huge amount of EV chargers it maintains its position as the country with the highest density of electric vehicles and chargers per 100 km, worldwide. The latest forecast for the EV charging infrastructure market is that it will surpass 200 thousand units by 2025. Moreover, Dutch incentive policies are so successful that electric car ownership now costs the same as diesel or gasoline car ownership. Here is a quick overview of the main incentives available:
???? EV Incentives in the Netherlands
National EV Incentives
On 4 June 2020, the Netherlands introduced a new subsidy scheme for electric vehicles. As Van Veldhoven, State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, explains, the objective of this scheme is to make clean driving accessible to people by incentivizing the purchase of new or used electric cars instead of ICEs. This should help to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the scheme, EV purchased from that time onwards are eligible for a subsidy, which you can request from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RNO). Here’s the latest on the incentives:
Subsidies
- €4,000 for purchasing or leasing a new EV
- €2,000 for purchasing or leasing a used EV
Conditions, details & application information:
- EV must have an original value of €12,000 to €45,000
- EV must have a minimum range of 120 km
- EV must be purchased or leased on or after 4 June 2020
- A list of eligible cars can be downloaded here
- The subsidy scheme runs from 1 July 2020 to 1 July 2025, unless the budget of €17.2M is used up earlier
- For more information and to apply, click here
Tax Benefits
- Purchase tax (Belasting van personenauto’s en motorrijwielen; BPM): BPM is the tax you pay when buying a passenger car or motorcycle. EV owners receive the following BPM tax benefits:
- Purely electric vehicles:
- Until 2024: fully exempt from purchase tax
- 2025: you’ll pay a purchase tax fee of €360 per car
- After 2025: purchase tax fee will increase with inflation every year
- PHEVs (Plug-in Hybrids)
- BPM rates are based on the World Harmonized Light Vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP) CO2 testing method; use this table to calculate your BPM rate
- Purely electric vehicles:
- Motor Vehicle Tax (MRB): MRB is an annual tax you pay on the possession of a car, motorcycle or truck. EV owners receive the following MRB tax benefits:
- Purely electric vehicles:
- Until 2024: fully exempt from motor vehicle tax
- 2025: 75% discount on MRB
- 2026 onwards: full MRB applies
- PHEVs:
- Until 2024: 50% discount on motor vehicle tax
- 2025: 25% discount on MRB
- 2026 onwards: full MRB applies
- Purely electric vehicles:
Business Benefits:
If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, take advantage of the following benefits when you invest in company EVs:
Emission-Free Commercial Vehicles subsidy scheme (SEBA)
- 10% of list price when purchasing or leasing new EV (capped at €5,000); valid from 15 March 2021 to 31 December 2025.
Tax benefits
- VAT exemption: companies who promote electric driving don’t have to pay the 21% VAT, however the 2.7% VAT private correction applies.
- Environmental Investment Allowance (MIA): Using the MIA, companies can receive an investment deduction of up to 36% of the amount invested into the EV. EVs on the Environmental List 2020 are eligible for this.
- Bijtelling: this is a type of tax that applies if you use the company car privately. Basically, depending on the emissions of your vehicle, a percentage of its list price is added to your taxable income base. EV owners receive the following Bijtelling benefits:
- 2021: discounted rate of 12% (instead of 22%)
- 2022-24: discounted rate of 16% (instead of 22%)
- 2025: discounted rate of 16% (instead of 22%)
- 2026 onwards: full rate of 22% applies
Eco-tax
- Punitive measures: high-emitting CO2 vehicles that are more than 12 years old have to pay another 15% on top of existing ownership tax as of 2019.
- Taxes for gasoline and diesel will be increased by one cent per liter this year and will see another one-cent increase in 2023.
Banning Gasoline/Petrol Cars
- From 2030, only emissions-free vehicles will be allowed to be newly registered in the Netherlands.
Municipality EV Incentives
It’s worth checking out your local municipality’s incentives, as some may offer extra subsidies. For more information on your municipality’s EV incentives, a quick internet search of “EV stimulansen + [naam van uw gebied]” (“EV incentives + [name of your area]” ) should point you in the right direction. Alternatively, you can check this government page listing all municipalities, their official contact information, and helpful links. Most municipalities will allow you to apply online, using your DigID (if you’re a resident) or e-Identification (as an organization).
Here is an example from Amsterdam:
Amsterdam:
- Subsidy for EVs & scrapping scheme:
- New subsidies from 5 December 2019 provide a max €3,000 for a taxi up to €40,000 for a van, truck or bus (depending on their vehicle classification, size and weight). Both new and used emission-free vehicles can be subsidized. For more info & how to apply, click here.
- A scrapping subsidy of €500 is available if you scrap an old diesel. For more information & how to apply click here.
???? EV Charging Incentives in the Netherlands
EV Charging Incentives for Private Individuals
At the moment, the Netherlands doesn’t offer any national or local incentives for the purchase and installation of private charging points. Instead, the government offers some charger incentives for companies and focuses on the development of public charging stations.
EV Charging Incentives for Businesses
- Environmental Investment Allowance (MIA): Using the MIA, companies can receive an investment deduction of up to 36% of the amount invested into a charging point.
- Random depreciation of environmental investments (VAMIL): VAMIL offers companies the possibility to depreciate 75% of the investment costs of a charging point.
Public Charging Point System
There are over 58,000 public and semi-public EV charging points in the Netherlands. To find your local charging point, you can check out this handy map. If there isn’t a charging point near where you live or work, you can request a free public charging point to be installed. You still have to pay for energy consumption when charging, but you won’t have to pay for the purchase, installation or usage of the charger.
Here is an overview of the different charging point schemes in the biggest cities:
- Amsterdam:
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- For more information & how to apply click here.
- With a charge card, you can use the public charging points and pay based on energy consumption.
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Eindhoven:
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- For more information & how to apply click here.
- With a charge card, you can use the public charging points and pay based on energy consumption.
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- The Hague:
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free. Installation usually takes between 2-4 months.
- For more information & how to apply click here.
- With a charge card, you can use the public charging points and pay based on energy consumption.
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free. Installation usually takes between 2-4 months.
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Rotterdam:
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- For more information & how to apply click here.
- With a charge card, you can use the public charging points and pay based on energy consumption.
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Utrecht:
- Free charging points in public spaces:
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- For more information & how to apply click here.
- With a charge card, you can use the public charging points and pay based on energy consumption.
- Application and installation of a new public charging point are free.
- Free charging points in public spaces:
Overview of Government Electrification Initiatives & Policies in the Netherlands
Since 2010 the Dutch Government has been working on an electrification roll-out, as part of its plan to allow only emission-free vehicles to register as of 2030. The Dutch Government has estimated an average of 400,000 EVs on the roads per year by 2030. Already in 2020, the Netherlands and certain municipalities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, have begun a large-scale roll out of the European and National Green Deal plans.
Mission Zero
The Mission Zero Powered by Holland presentation outlines how the Netherlands wants to lead the way to a zero-emission future. Here are some of the main ongoing and new initiatives:
- Buses: all buses to be 100% emission-free by 2030, with all new buses entering service from 2025 to be zero-emission from the onset. All the energy for these battery-electric and hydrogen-electric buses will be generated via wind and solar panels, where possible.
- Car sharing: around 400,000 Dutch citizens currently car share. The Green Deal ambition is for 100,000 shared cars to be electric by 2021. Pilot projects of this electric car-share are being rolled out in some municipalities (Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Amstelveen, Amersfoort and Apeldoorn). Under the City Deal, around 5,000 dwellings are using solar-panels to generate electricity for around 200 shared EVs. By sharing cars, they also save on parking spaces and better regulate EV charging.
- Taxis: approximately 13% of taxis are completely electric in Amsterdam.
- Charging stations: the government aims to have 1.8 million public, semi-public and private charge points in the country by 2030 to support the growing demand for EVs. To achieve this goal, it has already issued several tenders for the construction of thousands of public charging stations.
- Infrastructure: a targeted strategy was set down for 2018-2020 to improve the accessibility of urban areas, develop new transports concepts, and reduce CO2 emissions. As part of its smart mobility plan, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment has invested 6.2 billion euros in infrastructure. Since 2018, this has included expanding the road network by 268 km of new lanes to help manage traffic circulation.
- Target group transport: the transport available for those unable to travel independently (because of physical or mental disabilities) will also be made 100% emission-free by 2025.
Formula E-Team
The Formula E-Team (FET) was set up a few years ago to promote developments in electric transport. The FET is a public-private collaboration between the government, companies and knowledge institutions (e.g. Energy Netherlands; Nature Environment Foundation). The FET implements the promise of 100% new sales to be zero emissions by 2030. Under the Climate Agreement, the FET is committed to:
- the strengthening of the consumer market
- developing the logistics sector and heavy transport
- improving and broadening the charging infrastructure
- the connection with sustainably generated energy
- using the international earning potential of electric transport companies
- supporting innovation
The FET is responsible for carrying out the aims of the Green Deal Electric Transport 2016 – 2020, such as the ambition that by 2025, 50% of newly sold cars must have an electric drivetrain (to transmit power to the driving wheels of PHEVs) and plug. At least 30% of these cars must be fully electric.
The Netherlands: Major EV Growth Is Set To Continue
Alongside the international Climate Agreement, the Netherlands also signed a National Agreement in June 2019, demonstrating its commitment to national electrification. The National Agreement set a budget of €250 million to stimulate electric driving. This is the total budget available until 2025, so no extra subsidies will be paid on top of this. This decrease in incentives could threaten EV adoption in the Netherlands, which has up until now seen major growth thanks to the local subsidies. Despite the cap on incentives for the next five years, the Netherlands’ forward-thinking approach has set them up well to achieve their zero-carbon goals by 2030, thanks to their cooperation, knowledge development, and regional anchoring.
To find out more about EV and EV charging incentives in other European countries, read our complete EU EV incentives guide.
