What electric cars pay in motor vehicle tax in Zurich, how the tax is calculated and what is changing.
In the canton of Zurich, fully electric cars (and hydrogen fuel-cell cars) pay no vehicle tax, with no time limit. Combustion and hybrid cars are taxed on engine capacity and gross weight. In 2025 the cantonal parliament provisionally backed a parliamentary initiative to introduce a weight-based tax for electric cars as well; nothing has been decided yet.
Cars up to 3.5 t: sum of an amount based on engine capacity (registration document field 37; from CHF 69 up to 1,200 cc) and an amount based on gross vehicle weight (field 33; from CHF 50 up to 1,200 kg).
Vehicles with exclusively electric drive owe no vehicle tax; the same applies to fuel-cell (hydrogen) vehicles. According to the Road Traffic Office, the exemption has no time limit and no further conditions. Legal basis: Verkehrsabgabengesetz (VAG) and Verkehrsabgabenverordnung (VAV).
Plug-in hybrids and other hybrids are not exempt and pay the tax based on engine capacity and gross weight. A vehicle in energy-efficiency category A or B with no more than 130 g CO2/km gets an 80 % (category A) or 50 % (category B) discount for the year of first registration and the following three years. This applies to all drive types, including plug-in hybrids that meet the criteria.
On 30 June 2025 the cantonal parliament provisionally backed, with 119 votes (60 were needed), a parliamentary initiative by Marc Bourgeois (FDP), co-signed by the SVP and Die Mitte. It calls for owners of electric vehicles to pay vehicle tax too, probably based on weight. A committee must now draft a bill, after which parliament votes again. Until the law is changed the exemption remains in place; no effective date has been set.
Any fully electric passenger car (exclusively electric drive), regardless of weight: CHF 0 per year (source)
Still to be confirmed: how far the committee has progressed with the parliamentary initiative on a tax for electric cars. The status of the initiative (provisionally backed on 30 June 2025 with 119 votes) is based on media reports (SDA/swissinfo).
The Auto-Check works out how much you save overall with an electric car, using your own assumptions.
As of: October 2026. All information without guarantee. The tax bill and the cantonal road traffic office are authoritative.
