Get a financial advantage (right now) on cars under 50 grams of C02

If you buy a car under 50 grams of CO2 at the moment, you actually have the opportunity to save about 50% of the tax on it. However, before you buy a car and calculate the tax, it is important to check which measurement standards the car is registered with. In the CoC document you will find the correct measurement standards, which for a plug-in hybrid car must be a maximum of 49 CO2 on WLTP and 41 CO2 on NEDC.

The green transition is underway

At the end of 2020, a political climate agreement was entered into (bill: L 129) to ensure a green transition of road transport in Denmark towards 2030. The purpose of the agreement was to get more safe and green cars on the roads, while at the same time making it cheaper for an ordinary family to drive “green”. The first step in the agreement was to reduce the tax on plug-in hybrid cars in order to replace petrol and diesel cars with plug-in hybrid cars – and this has succeeded. However, the goal is to get more pure electric cars on the market in the long term. Therefore, towards 2025, it will be more expensive for consumers and dealers to buy plug-in hybrid cars under 50 grams of CO2, as the tax on these increases.

Tax on low-emission cars increases

In the table below, you can see that the tax will increase by 5% every year until 2025, and then the tax will be gradually phased in towards 2035.

Bottom and battery deduction on zero and low emission cars fall

However, it is worth noting that in continuation of the tax increase, the bottom and the battery deduction are also lowered. This means that you cannot deduct as much deduction from the tax as before, and thus the plug-in hybrid cars will become more and more expensive in the coming years.

Development of the basic deduction:

• The basic deduction for plug-in hybrid cars in 2021 was: DKK 50,000.
• The basic deduction for plug-in hybrid cars in 2022 is: DKK 48,750.

The size of the basic deduction is written down annually.

The development of the battery deduction:

In 2022, the battery deduction is DKK 1,300 per kWh. However, the deduction stops at 45 kWh, which means that you can get a battery deduction of a maximum of DKK 58,500. Below you can see the annual change in the battery deduction for zero and low emission cars with a battery size of 45 kWh:

• Battery deduction 2021 (DKK 1,700 per kWh): DKK 76,500
• Battery deduction 2022 (DKK 1,300 per kWh): DKK 58,500
• Battery deduction 2023 (DKK 900 per kWh): DKK 40,500.
• Battery deduction 2024 (DKK 500 per kWh): DKK 22,500
• Battery deduction 2025 (the deduction lapses): DKK 0.

Note that a low-emission car will typically only have a battery capacity of between 5 and 10 kWh, which has an impact on the size of the deduction.

Three categories of emission cars:

• 0 grams of CO2 emissions = zero emission car (electric cars only)
• 0 – 49.99 grams of CO2 emissions = low emission car (primarily plug-in hybrid cars)
• Over 50 grams of CO2 emissions = high emission car (all other vehicles)

Save about 50% of the tax when you buy a car under 50 grams of CO2

The increasing taxes and the decrease in the bottom and the battery deduction make it very attractive to buy cars under 50 grams of CO2, as you can save about 50% of the tax right now.

For example, if you buy a BMW 530e from 2018 versus a BMW 530i from 2018 – both cars with roughly the same equipment, there is a lot of money to be made with the plug-in variant, as you save about 50% of the tax.