Electric driving: these measures coming your way

  • The basis
  • Edited 20 July 2026
  • 2 min
  • Managing and growing
  • Sustainability

More and more people are switching to electric vehicles, including for business purposes. The government is taking measures to reduce CO2 emissions, and more and more cities are establishing environmental zones and zero-emission zones. Read what these measures mean for your business and how you can adapt to a future in which electric driving becomes the norm.

The Netherlands must be climate neutral (in Dutch) by 2050. This has implications for transport. Petrol and diesel cars will slowly but surely disappear from the streets and electric driving will become the standard. You may be affected by a number of important measures:

Zero-emission zones

29 municipalities have introduced a zero-emission zones. Only vans and trucks running without diesel or petrol are allowed in these areas. To ensure you have time to prepare, there is a transitional arrangement. Thanks to that arrangement, some existing vans running on diesel, petrol or LPG are allowed to enter zero-emission zones for a little longer.

The access rules differ for vans and lorries. All new vans registered since 1 January 2025 must be emission-free to be allowed to enter a zero-emission zone.

Environmental zones for diesel vehicles

In addition to zero-emission zones, 7 municipalities have an environmental zone (milieuzone) for diesel trucks: 

  1. Arnhem
  2. The Hague
  3. Eindhoven
  4. Haarlem
  5. Leiden
  6. Rotterdam
  7. Tilburg

In the cities of Amsterdam, Arnhem, Utrecht, and The Hague, there is an environmental zone for diesel-powered passenger cars and vans. The low-emission zones are mainly located in city centres. You can recognise a low-emission zone by a traffic sign with a sub-sign. This indicates which vehicles and which emission classes the low-emission zone applies to.

Prepare for environmental zones

Do you visit cities with an environmental zone or that will introduce an environmental zone in the future? Check your emission level and check whether you can enter the city with your car or van. There are 3 types of environmental zones for diesel cars, vans, and trucks: yellow, green, and purple.

Since 2025, your car or van must have at least emission class 4 to drive in an environmental zone. There are also stricter zones, for which you must have emission class 5 or 6. The traffic signs for environmental zones (in Dutch) have been renewed in 2026.

Government encourages electric driving

The government encourages environmentally friendly driving (in Dutch). For a fuel-powered van, you pay the same private vehicle and motorcycle tax (BPM) as for passenger cars. You do not pay BPM on electric cars.

Car manufacturers in the EU must reduce the total exhaust emissions from the cars they produce by 90% by 2035 compared with 2021. The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050. By then, you will only be allowed to buy or sell petrol and diesel cars second-hand.

Introduction of heavy goods vehicle charge

A heavy goods vehicle charge has come into force in the Netherlands from 1 July 2026 to encourage clean transport. Trucks that weigh over 3,500 kilograms, now pay an average of 20 euro cents per kilometre for every kilometre you drive by truck on motorways and some main provincial and municipal roads (N roads).

How to prepare

The heavier and more polluting the truck, the more truck charge you pay. Electric trucks with a maximum mass of up to 4,250 kilos, do not pay any levy. Keep this in mind when investing in new trucks in the coming years.

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