Germany ended a year of industry anxiety in December 2025: the Fourth Act Amending Toll Law Provisions entered into force, extending the toll exemption for emission-free trucks from its original 31 December 2025 expiry to 30 June 2031. Vehicles under 4.25 tonnes gain a permanent exemption. Berlin thereby uses the full exemption period the revised Eurovignette Directive permits — the directive’s full-exemption window was itself only extended in autumn 2025 after the European Parliament rejected a blocking motion in October.

The sums are material. Germany’s CO₂-differentiated toll, introduced with a sharp surcharge in December 2023, costs a Euro VI long-haul diesel roughly €0.30–0.35 per kilometre depending on class and route. At German long-haul mileages, exemption is worth €30,000–50,000 per truck per year — the single largest operating-cost differential between diesel and electric anywhere in Europe. It is no coincidence that Germany registered 4,766 electric trucks in 2025, more than any other member state, and that externally chargeable trucks reached about 5.5% of new German registrations in ACEA’s current-year tracking.

Planning certainty was the real deliverable. Fleet electrification decisions have 6–8 year asset horizons and 2–4 year grid-connection lead times; a toll exemption that expires every two years is not an incentive but a gamble. The industry said so loudly through 2025 — the delay in confirming 2026 terms until December drew open criticism from manufacturers and haulage associations alike. The mid-2031 date aligns the toll incentive with the EU’s CO₂ framework, whose −45% manufacturer target takes effect in 2030: toll policy and compliance policy now point at the same deadline.

Practical notes for operators: Toll Collect automatically extends existing zero-emission registrations to end-2027, after which re-registration is required; the exemption applies to German motorway tolls and does not follow the truck abroad — a German-registered e-truck still pays Dutch or Flemish rates (at the zero-emission band) when crossing. From early 2026 the TollNow app also adds semi-automated booking for occasional users.

What to do with this

If your network touches Germany, model 2026–2031 as the incentive window, not 2026–2027. Grid applications for depot charging should start now — the six-year toll runway is precisely the period needed to absorb infrastructure lead times and still capture several years of exempt operation.