France to end registration fee exemption for electric cars
Depending on the region and vehicle, registration fees for an EV could reach up to €750, according to Connexion. The tax break was introduced in 2020 to encourage the uptake of zero-emission vehicles but was limited to a five-year period and is now set to expire.
France’s updated 2025 finance law, adopted in mid-February, gave regional authorities until 30 April to decide whether to continue offering the exemption or revert to the full rate – equivalent to the fees levied on petrol and diesel vehicles.
The French registration tax system is somewhat complex. While several smaller levies are included, the bulk of the cost is made up by the regional tax, which is based on vehicle power – not as an exact figure, but in steps. Each region sets its own rate, capped at €60 per step. In Hauts-de-France, for example, the rate is €36.30. A car with higher rated power requires multiple ‘steps” to calculate the total.
According to Connexion, a Renault Twingo E-Tech falls into tax band three, meaning it would incur triple the base rate – €180 in Brittany, for instance, or €129 in Corsica. And the Twingo E-Tech is by no means a high-performance electric car.
Due to the power characteristics of electric motors – especially dual-motor all-wheel drive setups – many EVs register high output figures on paper. This could lead to significantly higher registration costs for a large portion of electric vehicles, as fees scale steeply with power under the regional tax system.
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