What electric cars pay in motor vehicle tax in Thurgau, how the tax is calculated and what is changing.
Thurgau taxes cars on engine capacity, so EVs pay only the lowest base rate of CHF 96 a year, or just CHF 48 with energy label A in the year of registration and the following four years. Combustion cars pay considerably more depending on engine size. In September 2026, the cantonal parliament called for a switch to objective criteria such as weight and power, but no date has been set yet.
Engine capacity (§§ 3 and 7 of the Road Traffic Charges Act, RB 741.1). Light motor vehicles: CHF 96 up to 450 cc, plus CHF 24 for each further full or part 200 cc. The tax is charged per day of registration. A bonus/malus based on the energy label at first registration also applies: category A −50%, B −25% (year of registration plus four years), categories F and G +50% for as long as the car is registered.
EVs have no engine capacity and therefore pay the lowest rate for light motor vehicles, CHF 96 a year. According to the Road Traffic Office's official tariff for fuel type E vehicles: energy efficiency category A −50% = CHF 48, category B −25% = CHF 72, in the year of first registration and the following four years. Categories C to E pay CHF 96, and F and G +50% = CHF 144. Newly registered light motor vehicles without proof of an energy efficiency category are assigned to category A. The bonus stays with the vehicle on a change of keeper, and a break in registration does not extend it.
Plug-in hybrids are taxed like combustion cars on engine capacity (CHF 96 up to 450 cc plus CHF 24 per further 200 cc). They only get the 50% or 25% bonus for the registration year and four following years if they are in energy efficiency category A or B.
On 16 September 2026, according to media reports, the cantonal parliament partly approved motion 24/MO 27/182 'Equal treatment in road traffic tax' (104 votes to 5): in future the tax is to be based on objective criteria such as weight, power or vehicle age instead of engine capacity. The proposed abolition of the bonus and malus failed to win a majority, so the bonus for efficient vehicles remains for now. The cantonal government now has to draft a revision of the law; no timetable has been published.
Elektro-Personenwagen (Treibstoffart E), Energieeffizienz-Kategorie A: CHF 48 pro Jahr im Zulassungsjahr und den vier Folgejahren, danach CHF 96: CHF 48 per year (source)
The result of the 16 September 2026 vote (motion partly approved, 104 to 5) is documented only by the Thurgauer Zeitung and a statement by the FDP parliamentary group. The timetable and content of the future revision of the law are still open.
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.
