Electric and hybrid cars: Spanish road-tax relief in 2026
An electric car does pay road tax in Spain, but almost every council reduces it. What varies a lot is how long the reduction lasts.
How much does a CERO or ECO car save?
A Coruña road tax, first year
€25.05
| Without relief | €62.62 |
| Relief | 60 % |
| Saving per year | €37.57 |
60% in the year of registration and the following year for hybrids, electric or zero-emission cars and gas vehicles (not cumulative)
Spanish road tax applies to every vehicle fit to be driven, electric ones included. What section 95(6) of the Local Finance Act allows is for each council to set in its tax byelaw relief of up to 75 % based on the type of fuel and up to 75 % based on engine characteristics, for their environmental impact, plus up to 100% for historic vehicles or those over 25 years old. Each city decides the rate, the duration, whether it is tied to the DGT label or to the engine type, and whether you must apply. Under the byelaws we have read, a newly registered 11.5 fiscal hp electric car pays between €4.46 and €33.14 a year, and the relief can last anything from two years to the whole life of the car.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Nine byelaws, nine policies
The table applies each 2026 tax byelaw to an 11.5 fiscal hp electric car in its first year. The duration column is what matters over the life of the car: in Madrid, Zaragoza, Santander, Valladolid and València the reduction has no end date as long as the car stays electric; in Barcelona and Córdoba it lasts five years, in Murcia three and in A Coruña only the year of registration and the next.
| Town | Amount without relief | Relief | Duration | Amount with relief |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Coruña | €62.62 | 60 % | 2 years | €25.05 |
| Alicante / Alacant | €60.47 | 75 % | 1 years | €15.12 |
| Barcelona | €68.16 | 75 % | 5 years | €17.04 |
| Córdoba | €56.91 | 75 % | 5 years | €14.23 |
| Donostia / San Sebastián | €89.25 | 95 % | 3 years | €4.46 |
| L'Hospitalet de Llobregat | €68.16 | 75 % | 8 years | €17.04 |
| Las Palmas de Gran Canaria | €56.57 | 75 % | no limit | €14.14 |
| Madrid | €59 | 75 % | no limit | €14.75 |
| Málaga | €65.80 | 75 % | 5 years | €16.45 |
| Móstoles | €62.60 | 75 % | no limit | €15.65 |
| Murcia | €68.16 | 75 % | 3 years | €17.04 |
| Palma | €68.16 | 75 % | no limit | €17.04 |
| Pamplona / Iruña | €66.28 | 50 % | no limit | €33.14 |
| Santander | €67.96 | 75 % | no limit | €16.99 |
| Sevilla | €61 | 75 % | 5 years | €15.25 |
| València | €58.87 | 75 % | no limit | €14.72 |
| Valladolid | €61.34 | 75 % | no limit | €15.34 |
| Vitoria-Gasteiz | €76.17 | 90 % | 6 years | €7.62 |
| Zaragoza | €56.10 | 75 % | no limit | €14.03 |
Label or engine: two ways to define it
Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia and Córdoba tie relief to the DGT label: zero or ECO. Others, such as València, Valladolid, Santander or A Coruña, tie it to the engine type described in the byelaw: electric, hybrid or gas. The difference matters in borderline cases: a plug-in hybrid with 45 km of range has the zero label and gets 10 years in Zaragoza, more than a regular hybrid; a diesel hybrid is ECO, but gets no hybrid relief in Valladolid.
Relief we could not read
Málaga, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Donostia and Móstoles have relief in their byelaws that we could not verify in an accessible official text, so it is not in the table and the tool does not apply it. If you live there, ask the council tax office before registering the car. To work out the amount before relief you need the car’s fiscal horsepower: for an electric car, effective power in kW divided by 5.152.
Working out the saving over the car’s whole life
To compare two cities, the first-year percentage is not enough. Multiply the band amount by the years the relief lasts, then add the years without it. An 11.5 fiscal hp electric car kept for ten years pays a quarter of 59 euros every year in Madrid, with no end; in Murcia, a quarter of 68.16 euros for three years and the full amount for the next seven. The cumulative difference exceeds 300 euros, more than separates the two cities on a petrol car.
Byelaws count the period differently: from the year of registration, from the following year or in calendar years. If you buy in December, some cities will have used up a year of relief in a single month. Ask how it is counted before registering at the end of the year.
Second-hand electric cars
Relief tied to years since first registration does not restart when the car changes hands. A three-year-old electric car bought in Murcia has no relief left, because its three years have already run; in Madrid, Zaragoza or Valladolid, where electric-car relief has no end date, the new owner keeps it. For time-limited relief based on the label, the registration date on the DGT record is what councils check, not the date of your purchase.
Finally, remember that relief only applies to the road tax. The parking advantages some cities give zero-emission cars, such as Madrid’s regulated parking rules for CERO vehicles, are set in mobility byelaws and have their own conditions, separate from the tax office. A car can qualify for one and not the other, so check both before assuming the saving.
One more point for buyers: dealers often quote “road tax included” for the first year. That figure is the council’s amount for the year of registration, pro-rated by quarter and already net of any relief the council applies automatically, as in Madrid. Where relief has to be applied for, as in València or Valladolid, the dealer’s figure may assume relief you still need to request yourself, so check the byelaw deadline.