In this guide
The Netherlands has one of the densest public charging networks in Europe and a reputation, largely earned, as an early electric-vehicle market. That reputation is why so much of the advice circulating in expat groups is out of date: it was written when the government paid people to buy electric cars. It no longer does.
If you are weighing an electric car here in 2026, the decision has moved almost entirely to the tax and running-cost side. This guide covers what actually exists now — the closed subsidy, the bijtelling path for lease and company cars, MRB and BPM, realistic charging cost ranges, and how to think about lease versus buying when your own stay has an end date.
Tax rates and tariffs change every January, and several of the figures below are on a published multi-year path. Verify your own numbers with the Belastingdienst and the RVO before committing.
Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you sign up via them WT Digital may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
💡 Related: how EV charging works in practice, car leasing options for expats, car insurance for expats.
Quick answer: There is no national purchase subsidy for private buyers in 2026 — the SEPP scheme is definitively closed and stopped accepting applications on 27 December 2024. What remains is tax treatment: bijtelling on a company or lease car is 18% on the first €30,000 of list price and 22% above it for 2026, rising to 20% in 2027 and 22% in 2028; MRB carries a 30% discount for fully electric cars in 2026, so they pay 70% of the regular weight-based rate; and BPM is effectively just the fixed base amount because it is CO2-based. Charging cost is the biggest variable you control: home charging runs at a fraction of DC fast-charging rates.
The Subsidy: Gone, and Not Coming Back in 2026
Start here, because it is the question everyone asks and almost every older article answers wrongly.
The SEPP (Subsidieregeling Emissieloze Personenauto’s) was the national purchase subsidy for private buyers of electric cars, covering both new and used vehicles. The RVO’s own page now states that the scheme is definitively closed, and that applications were accepted from 1 July 2020 until 27 December 2024. In its final years the amounts had already been reduced — figures around €2,950 for a new and €2,000 for a used electric car are commonly cited for the last phase — and there is no successor scheme for private buyers in 2026.
Three practical consequences:
- Do not build a purchase subsidy into your budget. If a dealer or a forum post mentions one, ask which scheme, and check it on rvo.nl before believing it.
- Existing recipients still have obligations. People who did receive SEPP are subject to a holding period and reporting requirements — relevant if you are buying a used EV from a private seller who received the subsidy, because their obligations can affect the sale.
- Local schemes are the only remaining wildcard. Some municipalities and provinces run their own small schemes, typically for charging infrastructure rather than for cars. They come and go, so check your own gemeente rather than assuming either way.
What did not disappear is the tax treatment, and for anyone with a company or lease car that was always the larger number anyway.
Bijtelling: The Number That Decides Lease Cars
If your car comes through your employer or a lease arrangement with private use, bijtelling is the addition to your taxable income for that private use — and it is where electric driving still pays.
For 2026 the position is a two-tier rate:
| Portion of list price | 2026 rate |
|---|---|
| First €30,000 | 18% |
| Amount above €30,000 | 22% |
And the published path onward:
| Year | Discounted rate on the first €30,000 |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 18% |
| 2027 | 20% |
| 2028 | 22% — equal to petrol and diesel |
Two features of the mechanism matter more than the headline percentage.
The rate is locked in at first registration. The percentage applying when the car is first put on the road stays with that car for a fixed period — the standard term is 60 months. So a car first registered in 2026 keeps the 2026 treatment through that window, and a delivery that slips into January can cost you the difference for five years. If you are ordering an EV late in a calendar year, ask the lease company in writing what registration date they are targeting.
The cap makes the advantage shrink on expensive cars. Because only the first €30,000 of list price gets the discounted rate, the effective benefit on a €70,000 electric car is much smaller in percentage terms than on a €35,000 one. The tax design deliberately favours modest electric cars, which is worth knowing before you specify upward.
For how private lease and operational lease differ in the Netherlands, and what the contracts actually contain, see car leasing options for expats.
MRB and BPM: The Two Taxes on Owning
If you buy rather than lease, two different taxes apply.
MRB (motorrijtuigenbelasting) is the quarterly road tax, calculated primarily on vehicle weight and fuel type. Fully electric cars were exempt for years; that exemption has ended and been replaced by a discount that is being phased down. For 2026 the discount stands at 30%, meaning a battery-electric car pays 70% of the regular rate.
The catch is weight. Batteries are heavy, so an electric car often sits in a higher weight class than a comparable petrol car — the discount is applied to a larger base figure. That is why the practical MRB difference between an EV and a petrol equivalent in 2026 is smaller than the word “discount” suggests, and why you should run your own car’s weight through the Belastingdienst’s calculation tool rather than reasoning from percentages.
BPM is the one-off registration tax, based on WLTP CO2 emissions. A zero-emission car has no per-gram charge, so it pays only the fixed base amount that applies to every passenger car — published annually and in the region of several hundred euros. This is a genuinely large advantage against a petrol or diesel car, where the per-gram brackets can run into thousands. It is also the reason importing an electric car is comparatively cheap on the tax side; the mechanics are in importing your car into the Netherlands.
Charging: The Cost You Actually Control
Charging is where two EV drivers with identical cars end up with completely different annual bills.
Commonly quoted 2026 ranges:
| Where you charge | Indicative cost per kWh |
|---|---|
| At home, standard consumer electricity contract | roughly €0.25 – €0.35 |
| Public street charger (AC) | higher than home, varying by network and charge card |
| DC fast charger (snellader) | roughly €0.55 – €0.79, with the fastest chargers above that |
Treat these as ranges rather than prices. Tariffs vary by network operator, by which charge card you use, by time of day, and — for home charging — entirely by your own energy contract. The practical implications:
Home charging is the whole ballgame if you can get it. The per-kWh gap between charging on your own contract and using fast chargers is large enough to change whether an EV saves money at all. If you can charge at home, your energy contract becomes part of your car’s running cost, which is a strange thought until you see the annual figure.
That makes the energy contract a car decision. Fixed, variable and dynamic contracts behave very differently for someone charging a car overnight: a dynamic contract prices per hour and rewards charging when wholesale prices are low, which suits a car that sits on a charger for eight hours; a fixed contract gives certainty instead. It is worth comparing what is actually available for your address before assuming your inherited contract is fine — Independer’s energy comparison shows the contract types side by side, and the difference over a year of home charging is usually a larger number than any single accessory you might buy for the car.
If you have solar panels, check the current netting rules. The Dutch netting scheme (salderingsregeling), which let households offset exported solar power against consumption, has a legislated end point and the treatment of exported power changes when it lapses. That materially affects the economics of charging a car from your own roof, so check the current position rather than relying on how it worked when the panels were installed.
Renters and apartment dwellers: public charging is a legitimate plan. Around the big cities a large share of EV drivers never charge at home. You can request placement of a public charge point near your address through your municipality, and the network is dense by European standards. A home charger installation only pays back if you own the property or have a long-term written arrangement — the hardware and the labour stay behind when you move. For the practical side of charge cards, apps and fast-charging networks, see electric car charging in the Netherlands.
Lease or Buy, With an End Date on Your Stay
Most expat car decisions have a feature that Dutch advice ignores: you may not be here in four years.
Leasing suits a fixed-term situation. No capital outlay in a country you have just arrived in, no residual-value risk on a technology whose used prices are still moving, insurance and maintenance usually bundled into one monthly amount, and no need for the Dutch credit history that a car loan effectively requires. If your contract or permit runs for a defined number of years, a lease term that matches it is the cleanest structure. Watch the early-termination clause — leaving the country is not usually a free exit — and the mileage limit, since underestimating annual kilometres is the most common way a private lease turns out expensive.
The general trade-off, independent of powertrain, is set out in leasing versus buying a car as an expat.
Buying wins on long horizons. If you expect to stay and keep a car for many years, ownership avoids the lease company’s margin, and an EV’s low BPM makes the purchase side comparatively cheap. You take the depreciation risk in exchange.
A used EV is the middle path, with one thing to check. Battery state of health is the main variable in a used electric car’s value, and a report on it matters more than mileage. Ask for one. Also confirm whether the previous owner received SEPP and whether any holding obligation is still running.
Whichever route, insurance is priced on the car and the driver, not on the powertrain alone: electric cars often carry higher repair costs, which feeds into casco premiums. Compare rather than accepting the lease company’s default where you have the choice — a platform such as Independer or Geld.nl covers the main Dutch insurers in one comparison, and a digital-first insurer such as Allianz Direct makes a useful single benchmark alongside it.
A third route is a consumer collective. UnitedConsumers is not an insurer: it is a Dutch consumer collective that buys as a group and mediates to Allianz Direct, a.s.r., Avéro, Bovemij, Nationale-Nederlanden, ZERO and Rhion, across WA, WA beperkt casco and WA casco (allrisk). Schadevrije jaren count towards the premium and members get a free Pluspakket with an annual premium check, a verhaalservice and a fuel card. Its September 2026 promotion was 20% off the premium, running 1 to 30 September 2026 — a temporary action (unitedconsumers.com/autoverzekering, checked 18 September 2026). For an EV the casco clause to read first is how the battery and the repair network are treated, and a seven-insurer panel is narrower than a full market comparison. The site, the quote flow and the polisvoorwaarden are entirely in Dutch; we found no English-language information on it on 18 September 2026.
Check UnitedConsumers → If you are arriving with a claim-free record from another country, get it in writing from your previous insurer before you cancel — see car insurance in the Netherlands for expats for how much that recognition is worth.
Putting a Realistic Case Together
A workable way to decide, in order:
- Establish which side you are on. Company or lease car with private use → bijtelling is the dominant number. Private purchase → MRB, BPM, charging and depreciation are.
- Do not include a purchase subsidy. There is none for private buyers in 2026.
- Answer the charging question honestly. Where will this car spend its nights? If the answer is a public street charger in a city, run the numbers at public tariffs, not at home tariffs.
- Check parking before charging. In several cities the binding constraint is not a charger but a permit — see parking permits in Dutch cities.
- Match the commitment to your horizon. Lease term, or expected ownership period, against how long you actually expect to be here.
- Price energy and insurance as part of the car. Both are annually renegotiable, and both move the total by more than most people expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there still a subsidy for buying an electric car in 2026?
No national purchase subsidy for private individuals. The RVO confirms SEPP is definitively closed, with applications having ended on 27 December 2024, and no replacement scheme exists for 2026. Local municipal or provincial schemes, mostly for charging infrastructure, are the only thing worth checking.
What is the bijtelling for an electric car in 2026?
18% on the first €30,000 of list price and 22% above that threshold. The published path takes the discounted rate to 20% in 2027 and 22% in 2028. The rate is fixed at first registration for a set period, so the registration date matters.
Do electric cars pay MRB?
Yes. The exemption has ended and been replaced by a discount that is being phased down — 30% for 2026, meaning an EV pays 70% of the regular rate. Because MRB is weight-based and EVs are heavy, calculate it for your specific car.
Is BPM still zero for electric cars?
Not zero, but close to it. BPM is CO2-based, so a zero-emission car pays only the fixed base amount charged on every passenger car. Against a petrol or diesel equivalent this remains a substantial advantage.
How much does charging cost?
Indicatively, roughly €0.25 to €0.35 per kWh at home on a normal contract, and roughly €0.55 to €0.79 per kWh at DC fast chargers, with public AC chargers in between and premium fast chargers above. Your own energy contract and charge card determine where you land.
Should I install a home charger?
Only if you own the property or have a long-term written agreement with your landlord. The saving per kWh is real, but the installation cost does not move with you, and public charging is a workable alternative in most Dutch cities.
Does an electric car cost more to insure?
Often somewhat more on casco cover, because repair costs are higher, though this varies by model and insurer. Compare rather than assume, and check what a lease contract already includes before buying anything additional.
Final Thoughts
Electric driving in the Netherlands in 2026 is still financially attractive, but for different reasons than three years ago. The purchase subsidy is gone; the tax treatment is the advantage, and it is on a visible downward path that closes fully by 2028. That gives the decision a timing element it did not use to have: a car first registered in 2026 carries the 2026 bijtelling rate for years, and every subsequent year of delay costs a little more.
For a company or lease car, the case remains strong and the arithmetic is mostly about the €30,000 threshold and the registration date. For a private purchase, the honest deciding factor is charging: if you can plug in at home on a well-chosen energy contract, an EV usually works out cheaper to run than the petrol equivalent, and if you cannot, the margin narrows considerably. That single question is worth answering before you look at a single car — start by seeing what your address can actually get, then compare energy contracts with Independer and insurance for the car you have in mind.
Related reading: EV charging in practice | car leasing options | car insurance for expats | importing your car | parking permits in Dutch cities
External sources: RVO — SEPP subsidy for new electric cars · RVO — SEPP subsidy for used electric cars · Belastingdienst — motorrijtuigenbelasting · Rijksoverheid — Belastingplan 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there still a subsidy for buying an electric car in the Netherlands in 2026?
Not for private buyers. The SEPP scheme (Subsidieregeling Emissieloze Personenauto's) is closed: the RVO states it is definitively closed and that applications were accepted only until 27 December 2024. There is no national replacement purchase subsidy for private individuals in 2026, for either new or used electric cars. Anyone quoting you a purchase subsidy is working from outdated information. The remaining advantages are all on the tax side rather than the purchase side, plus whatever local schemes your municipality happens to run.
What is the bijtelling on an electric company car in 2026?
For 2026 the addition to taxable income is 18% on the first EUR 30,000 of list price and 22% on the amount above that threshold. Under the Belastingplan path the discounted rate rises to 20% in 2027 and reaches 22% in 2028, at which point electric and petrol cars are treated the same. The percentage that applies when the car is first registered stays with the car for a fixed period, which is why the year you take delivery matters more than the year you drive it.
Do electric cars pay road tax (MRB) in the Netherlands?
Yes, since the full exemption ended. Fully electric cars receive a discount on the normal motorrijtuigenbelasting rate, and that discount is being phased down — for 2026 it stands at 30%, meaning an EV pays 70% of the regular rate. This matters more than it sounds because MRB is weight-based and battery-electric cars are heavy, so the underlying rate they are discounted from is high. Use the Belastingdienst's own calculation tool with your car's weight.
Does an electric car still avoid BPM?
Almost, but not entirely. BPM is calculated from CO2 emissions, so a fully electric car with zero emissions pays only the fixed base amount that applies to every passenger car — an amount published annually and in the region of several hundred euros. That is why importing or buying an EV is comparatively cheap on this particular tax, while a petrol or diesel equivalent can attract thousands.
How much does it cost to charge an electric car in the Netherlands?
It depends entirely on where you charge, and the spread is wide enough to change the whole ownership case. Commonly quoted 2026 ranges are roughly EUR 0.25 to EUR 0.35 per kWh at home on a normal consumer electricity contract, more at public street chargers, and roughly EUR 0.55 to EUR 0.79 per kWh at DC fast chargers, with the very fastest chargers higher again. Treat those as indicative: tariffs vary by network, by charge card, by time of day and by your own energy contract. A driver who charges at home overnight and one who relies on motorway fast charging are not in the same financial position at all.
Is leasing an electric car better than buying one as an expat?
Leasing solves problems that matter specifically to new arrivals: no large capital outlay in a country you have just moved to, no residual-value risk on a fast-moving technology, insurance and maintenance usually bundled, and no need for Dutch credit history in the way a car loan would require. Buying wins on total cost if you keep a car for many years and can absorb the depreciation. If your contract here is for a fixed number of years, match the commitment to that period rather than to the car.
Do I need a home charger, and can I install one as a renter?
You do not strictly need one — the Netherlands has a dense public charging network and many urban EV drivers use it exclusively. Home charging is meaningfully cheaper per kWh, but installation only makes sense if you own the property or have a long-term written agreement with the landlord, because the cost is not recoverable when you move. Renters in apartments generally use public charging, and you can request a public charge point near your address through your municipality.