Electric cars and the German sticker: exempt since October 2026
Independent, non-governmental site: not an authority’s service, no sticker sales.
Pick your vehicle and the date of the trip: the check uses the new exemption’s start date, 1 October 2026.
Electric car with e-plate
Exempt, no sticker needed
Annex 3 no. 11 of the 35th BImSchV
| Condition | E at the end of the plate or, for foreign registrations, the e-badge on the rear (FZV s. 11) |
| Without sticker in a zone | €0 |
| Otherwise possible | city exemption permit (s. 1(2)) |
For the diesel bans in Stuttgart, Munich and Darmstadt, the exemptions of each city’s own order apply.
35th BImSchV, Annex 3: vehicles exempt from the sticker · BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 278
Until the end of September 2026 even an electric car needed a green sticker in a German low-emission zone. It qualified automatically, because vehicles without a combustion engine belong to emission group 4 under Annex 2(3) of the 35th BImSchV, but the duty to display the sticker remained. That changed with the second ordinance amending the 35th BImSchV, dated 25 September 2026 and published in Federal Law Gazette 2026 Part I No. 278 on 30 September. It adds a new number 11 to Annex 3: motor vehicles with the marking for electrically powered vehicles under section 11 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance are exempt from the zone bans, even without a sticker. The ordinance enters into force on the first day of the quarter following its publication, which is 1 October 2026. What matters is the E at the end of the plate, not the drive alone: an electric car without an e-plate, or a hybrid that does not qualify for one, still needs the green sticker.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
What changed on 1 October 2026
| until 30 September 2026 | from 1 October 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Electric car with e-plate | green sticker required | no sticker required (Annex 3 no. 11) |
| Electric car without e-plate | green sticker required | green sticker required |
| Plug-in hybrid with e-plate | green sticker required | no sticker required |
| Hybrid without e-plate | green sticker required | green sticker required |
In December 2025 the Federal Environment Agency still wrote on its low-emission zone page that the federal government was preparing an exemption for electric vehicles. With the ordinance of 25 September 2026 it has arrived. Anything online still saying that electric cars need a sticker reflects an older state of the law.
Who gets an e-plate
Under section 11 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance the e-plate is issued on request for vehicles as defined in the Electromobility Act: battery electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles and externally chargeable hybrids, the latter only if they meet the Act’s requirements. The E follows the registration number. The registration office assigns it. Foreign-registered vehicles carry the e-badge on the rear instead (section 11(4)); e-plates issued abroad count the same under subsection 5.
Diesel bans and other rules
The diesel bans do not affect an electric car. Other local rules, such as parking privileges, are outside the scope of this page. What applies without an e-plate is on the green sticker page; what a breach costs is on the fine page.