Overview
- The federal portal for the new subsidy, which opened on Tuesday, May 19, drew nearly 17,000 applications within 24 hours according to the environment ministry.
- The scheme, administered by BAFA and retroactive to 1 January 2026, pays between €1,500 and €6,000 for eligible battery electric vehicles and up to €4,500 for some plug‑in hybrids, with support scaled by income and family size.
- Many manufacturers are offering large, model‑specific discounts that stack with the state aid so effective prices fall sharply, with some deals lowering new EVs below €15,000 and maker bonuses reported as high as €11,500.
- Market data show the policy is arriving as demand already rises: KBA figures put electrified vehicles at about 37% of new registrations in April 2026 with roughly 64,000 new BEVs that month and a 41% year‑on‑year jump in overall registrations.
- The combined effect of subsidies and manufacturer cuts is tightening the used‑EV market, reducing listings on platforms like mobile.de and pushing average second‑hand EV prices up, while the ministry expects the €3 billion pot to fund roughly 800,000 subsidies through 2029.