What electric cars pay in motor vehicle tax in Basel-Stadt, how the tax is calculated and what is changing.
In Basel-Stadt, passenger cars pay CHF 1.25 per 10 kg of kerb weight plus CHF 1.60 per g CO2/km, so electric cars only pay the weight component. They also get a 50% discount as long as their market share stays below 5% (for at most ten years from 2018). According to a motion in the Grand Council, that threshold was exceeded at the end of 2025, so the discount could expire at the end of 2026. No end date has been officially confirmed.
Passenger cars: kerb weight (CHF 1.25 per 10 kg) plus CO2 emissions (CHF 1.60 per g CO2/km), since 1 January 2018. If a combustion car has no CO2 value, the Motor Vehicle Inspectorate uses a substitute of 250% of kerb weight. Other categories (e.g. motorcycles, motorhomes) are still taxed on engine capacity or their own tariffs.
Because electric cars have no CO2 emissions, they are taxed on kerb weight only. Section 3(9) of the Motor Vehicle Taxation Act (SG 650.500) also gives electric passenger cars without a combustion engine a 50% tax discount as long as their market share is below 5%. The discount first applied to tax year 2018 and runs for at most ten years. According to the Bolz motion of 3 June 2026, pure EVs made up about 5.4% of passenger cars at the end of 2025, so the discount would have to expire at the end of 2026. The Motor Vehicle Inspectorate's page (as of 30 Sep 2026) still describes the discount with the 5% condition. There is no reduction for electric motorhomes.
No discount: the 50% discount only applies to cars without a combustion engine. Plug-in hybrids pay the kerb-weight and CO2 components according to their CO2 value.
The 50% discount is running out (5% threshold exceeded at end of 2025; statutory maximum of ten years from 2018). A motion by Leoni Bolz and others on a bridging arrangement (26.5185, filed 3 June 2026, on the Grand Council agenda for 9 Sep 2026) calls for the discount to continue until the full revision of the vehicle tax (Motion 23.5581), which according to the motion will not take effect before 2030. Outcome pending.
No government or authority source confirms when the discount actually ends (motion text: end of 2026; some media reports said as early as 2025). No decision by the Grand Council on the Bolz motion (9 Sep 2026) is known.
The Auto-Check works out how much you save overall with an electric car, using your own assumptions.
As of: September 2026. All information without guarantee. The tax bill and the cantonal road traffic office are authoritative.
