The new decade is starting strong for the Netherlands as they continue to lead the way for electrification.
The Netherlands is the coordinator of the ID & Data Collection for Sustainable Fuels in Europe (IDACS) consortium, in which organisations from 15 countries participate. This project aims to encourage consumers to use alternative fuels such as hydrogen, electricity, or other renewable sources.
The Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA) brings together the 3Cs – Countries, Cities and Companies – to accelerate the global reduction of CO2 emissions from transport and to put the topic high on the international political agenda. It is a Dutch, Portuguese and French initiative. TDA’s goal is to achieve zero-emission mobility by 2050.
The Dutch government has a forward-thinking approach to EV policy and a considerable amount of EV chargers. As a result, it maintains its position as a worldwide leader with the highest density of electric vehicles and chargers per 100 km.
In this article, we will find out more about the available main EV and EV charging incentives in the Netherlands.
Public Charging Point System
There are over 72,000 public and semi-public EV charging points in the Netherlands.
There is a handy map where you can find your local charging point. You can request the installation of a completely free public charging point if there isn’t an electric vehicle charging point near your home or workplace. You still have to pay for energy consumption when charging, but you won’t have to pay for the charger’s purchase, installation, or usage.
Let’s jump into an overview of the various electric vehicle charging point plans in the most significant cities.
Almost everywhere, in the Netherlands, major public charging points are free.
The installation and application of new public charging stations are free, as well. In addition, clients can get charge cards that allow them to use the public charging stations and pay based on energy consumption.
For more information about the applications for each city, you can follow the links below:
Amsterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht.
EV Incentives in the Netherlands
National EV Incentives
The Dutch government introduced a new subsidy scheme for electric vehicles on June 4th 2020. State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, Van Veldhoven, explains that the main objective of this scheme is to make environmentally-friendly driving accessible to people by incentivising the purchase of new or used EVs instead of ICEs. In addition, the above should help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.
Under the scheme, consumers that purchased EVs from that time onwards are eligible for a subsidy. It can be requested from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RNO).
Let’s jump into the latest on the incentives.
As of 2019, owners of high-emitting CO2 vehicles that are more than 12 years old are obliged to pay another 15% on top of the existing ownership tax. In addition, taxes for diesel and gasoline have been increased by 1cent/litre in 2020 and will see another 1c/l increase in 2023.
For the purchase or lease of a new EV, the government grants €4,000, and for used EVs, the grant is €2,000. Conditions, details & application information are below:
- EV must have an original price of €12,000 to €45,000;
- 120 km is the minimal required range for an electric vehicle;
- EV must be leased or purchased on or after June 4th 2020;
- Consumers can download a list of eligible cars here;
- The subsidy scheme runs from July 1st 2020 to July 1st 2025, unless the budget of €17.2M ends;
You can find how to apply here.
Tax Benefits
BPM is the tax you pay when buying a motorcycle or electric vehicle. BPM rate is calculated via (WLTP) World Harmonized Light Vehicle Testing Procedure CO2 testing method. You can find more about the calculation of the rate here.
Electric vehicle owners receive the following BPM tax benefits:
- Purely electric vehicles are entirely free from purchase tax until 2024. In 2025 owners will get a tax fee of €360 per car. After 2025 the tax fee will increase annually.
- MRB(Motor Vehicle Tax) is the annual tax consumers pay for possession of a motorcycle, car, or truck.
In addition, electric vehicle owners receive the following Motor Vehicle Tax benefits:
- Purely electric vehicles are entirely free from MRB until 2024. In 2025 owners will get a 75% tax discount on MRB. After 2025 the tax fee will be applied in full.
- PHEVs are obliged to get a 50% discount on MRB until 2024. In 2025 the Dutch government will decrease the MRB discount rate to 25%. After 2026 the MRB fee will be applied in full.
- Bijtelling is a kind of tax that affects drivers if they use a company car privately. Depending on your vehicle’s emissions, a percentage of its list price is added to your taxable income base.
Electric vehicle owners receive the following Bijtelling benefits:
- 2021: discount of 12% (instead of 22%)
- 2022-24: discount of 16% (instead of 22%)
- 2025: discount of 16% (instead of 22%)
Entrepreneurs and business owners can take advantage of tax relief schemes when they invest in company electric vehicles. Companies promoting electric driving don’t have to pay 21% VAT. However, the 2.7% VAT private correction is applied.
Here is a link to the Environmental List 2021 of eligible electric vehicles for the benefits.
City EV Incentives
It is a good idea to check out the incentives in your local municipality. Many of them offer extra subsidies, with the information being on the municipality website. A quick Google search should also do you a world of good. Just type in (“EV incentives + [name of your area]”) “EV stimulansen + [naam van uw gebied]”, search, and you should be able to find your way around.
The process is usually online. Then, using your DigID (if you’re a resident) or e-Identification (organisations), you can easily apply for the programs.
We’ll continue with some examples:
- A scrapping bonus of €500 is available if consumers scrap an old diesel; you can find out how to apply for it here.
- In Amsterdam, there is a subsidy for electric vehicle & scrapping schemes starting from December 5th 2019. It provides a maximum of €3,000 for an electric taxi and €40,000 for a bus, van or truck. These grants can subsidise both new and used emission-free vehicles. Consumers can find more information here.
EV Charging Incentives within the Netherlands
EV Charging Incentives for Companies
Companies can use the MIA(Environmental Investment Allowance) to receive an investment write-off of up to 36% of the amount invested into an EV charging point.
VAMIL (Random depreciation of environmental investments) is how businesses get the possibility to decrease 75% of the investment costs of an EV charging point.
EV Charging Incentives for Private Individuals
At the moment, the Netherlands doesn’t offer any incentives for the purchase and installation of private charging points. Instead, the government provides some electric vehicle charger incentives for businesses and focuses on developing public EV charging stations.
Overview of Government Electrification Initiatives & Policies in the Netherlands
2010 was the year when the Dutch Government started its work on an electrification rollout. All of this was a part of its plan to allow only emission-free vehicles to register from 2030. The estimations of the Dutch Government are for an average of 400,000 Electric Vehicles on the roads per year by 2030. In 2020, the Netherlands and the most prominent municipalities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, have begun a large-scale rollout of the European and National Green Deal plans to pursue the national policies.
Mission Zero: Powered by Holland
The Netherlands’ Mission Zero Powered by Holland presentation outlines how it wants to be a driving force on the way to a zero-emission tomorrow.
Let’s jump into some of the main ongoing and new initiatives:
The government aims to have 1.8 million public, semi-public and private charge points by 2030 to support the growing demand for electric vehicles. It has already issued several tenders to construct thousands of public electric vehicle charging stations to achieve this goal.
The government set down a targeted strategy for 2018-2020 to improve the accessibility of city areas, develop new transport ideas, and decrease CO2 emissions. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment has invested 6.2 billion euros in infrastructure as part of its intelligent mobility plan. Since 2018, this has included expanding the road network by more than 268 km of new roads to help manage traffic flow.
Electric vehicle transportation will also be made 100% emission-free by 2025 for people with physical or mental disabilities.
Car sharing is going viral incredibly popular in the Netherlands. About 400,000 Dutch citizens currently car share. The Green Deal ambition is for 100,000 shared electric vehicles by 2021. Some municipalities such as Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Amstelveen, Amersfoort and Apeldoorn introduce their electric car-share pilot projects. Under the City Deal, around 5,000 residences are using solar panels to generate electricity for about 200 shared Electric Vehicles. Sharing cars is allowing them to save money on parking spaces and better manage electric vehicle charging.
Approximately 13% of taxis are completely electric in Amsterdam.
For Buses, the goal is 100% emission-free buses by 2030, with one hundred per cent of the new buses entering service from 2025 to be zero-emission from the onset. Where possible, solar and wind panels will generate all the energy for these battery-electric and hydrogen-electric buses.
Formula E-Team
Public-private collaboration between the government, companies and knowledge institutions such as Energy Netherlands and Nature Environment Foundation started the Formula E-Team to promote improvements in electric transportation. The Formula E-Team implements the promise of 100% new sales to be zero emissions by 2030. Furthermore, the Formula E-Team committed to the Climate Agreement.
The main goals are to strengthen the consumer market, develop the logistics sector and heavy transportation. They also want to improve and broaden the electric vehicle charging infrastructure, support innovation and basically use the global earning potential of electric transport companies.
The Formula E-Team effectively carries out the aims of the Green Deal Electric Transport 2016 – 2020. Below, you can find examples such as the ambition that by 2025, 50% of newly sold cars must have an electric plug and drivetrain (to transmit power to the driving wheels of PHEVs). Furthermore, the minimum amount of entirely electric vehicles must be at least 30%.
The Major EV Growth Is Set To Continue in the Netherlands
The Netherlands signed a National Agreement in June 2019. They have also signed the International Climate Agreement, demonstrating a commitment to national electrification. The National Agreement set a stimulus of €250 million to encourage electric driving. The total funding is available until 2025, so the government will pay no extra subsidies on top of this.
The scheme runs until 2025, but as the prices of electric vehicles are expected to shrink, the same will happen to the subsidy. According to an official publication by the Dutch government, the funds will reduce to €3,700 in 2022, €3,350 in 2023, €2,950 in 2024 and €2,550 in 2025.
The forecasts about the EV charging infrastructure market are that it will surpass 200 thousand units by 2025. The Netherlands has incredibly successful incentive policies, making electric car ownership now costs the same as conventional car ownership.
The Netherlands has announced that from 2030, emissions-free vehicles will be the only ones allowed to be newly registered.
This decrease in incentives could threaten EV adoption in the Netherlands, which has seen significant growth until now, thanks to the dutch subsidies. Despite the limit on incentives for the next five years, the Netherlands’ forward-thinking approach has set them up well to achieve zero carbon goals by 2030, thanks to their cooperation, knowledge development, and regional anchoring.
More on the topic of EV and EV Charging incentives
If you are interested to learn more about incentives in other countries, you can check our guide for EV and EV charging incentives in the UK.
