Electric trucks to remain exempt from tolls in Germany until 2031

The current exemption from tolls for electric trucks in Germany expires on 31 December 2025. Without a new decision, even zero-emission trucks would have had to pay tolls from 1 January 2026 onwards under the current legal situation to cover infrastructure costs. However, the long-awaited signal to the commercial vehicle industry has arrived from Berlin just in time: electric trucks will remain exempt from tolls. The Bundestag, as the Germans refer to their parliamentary assembly, is exempting electric trucks from the levy until mid-2031, following an EU decision made this autumn.

Looking at Europe as a whole, toll exemptions only exist in Germany and France at the moment, while there are special regulations in 10 other countries, such as the Netherlands. In October, the European automobile manufacturers’ association ACEA analyzed the situation. Its scathing commentary stated that the EU Council’s patchwork quilt solution was a problem and that all EU countries should please get their act together.

Specifically, Thomas Fabian, ACEA’s Chief Commercial Vehicles Officer, made the following comment: “The clock is ticking fast. We have just 56 months left for a tenfold increase of the market share of zero-emission trucks – from today’s 3.5% to at least 35% by 2030. Why are at least 15 member states still not using this instrument? Europe has set the world’s most ambitious CO2 reduction targets for vehicle manufacturers, yet still largely fails to provide the necessary enabling conditions. It is incomprehensible that not all available policy instruments are being implemented to make this transition happen.”

Now it appears that, while there is no clear solution on the horizon, at least the current one will be extended: Late on Thursday evening, the Bundestag approved the government’s draft for a ‘Fourth Act Amending Toll Regulations’.

In Germany, special treatment for electric trucks in terms of tolls was first introduced in December 2023, together with a hefty increase and CO2-based toll rates. As far as electric trucks are concerned, truck operators and manufacturers can now count on six more years of toll exemption after an initial two-year planning horizon. This is beneficial for planning security.

Other aspects of the decision on the ‘Fourth Act Amending Toll Regulations’ include:

• Vehicles subject to tolls can also be integrated into the system via mobile devices in future. The app-based registration system supplements the existing technology:
• The Act also regulates the transmission of the list of blocked vehicle devices to the BALM by the national operator.
• It is also planned that the classification of vehicles in emission classes 2 and 3 will be reviewed every six years from the date of first registration and, if necessary, reclassified.

Initial reactions from the industry have been positive, but there have also been some critical comments. Kim Johanna B. Kohlmeyer, Head of the Berlin Office at MAN Truck & Bus, for example, emphasises positively on LinkedIn that the continued toll exemption for electric trucks was put on the agenda at short notice and passed with very broad support, including from the opposition. However, she criticises the fact that logistics companies are not taken into account in the industrial electricity price that has also been decided and are also left out of the Electricity Tax Act in §9c. The latter regulates tax relief for certain electricity consumers. Kohlmeyer’s conclusion: “Berlin is moving in the right direction – but on many issues, the laws must finally be adapted to the new reality of commercial vehicles.”

heise.de, bundestag.de (both in German, video of the vote), acea.auto

This article was first published by Cora Werwitzke for electrive’s German edition.