The of the Federal Government, published on the same day. They show both increased participation in the has presented a draft bill to amend the Electromobility Act. The aim is to extend existing benefits for electrically powered vehicles, make some of them permanent and local authorities provide greater legal certainty on parking and access rules. According to the government, towns and cities will continue to be able to designate free parking spaces at charging points and grant exemptions from access restrictions for electric vehicles. The possibility of allowing the use of certain bus lanes in strictly limited cases is also being considered, provided public transport is not affected.
The legal framework for preferential treatment has been in place since 2015. The privileges were previously time-limited; the draft aims to extend their validity to provide planning certainty and allow local authorities to maintain existing rules on a stable basis. It also proposes clarifications on how eligible vehicles should be identified and how the rules should be implemented in practice locally. The German government has also announced changes to subordinate regulations, including the Road Traffic Regulations.
Feedback from the Länder and local authorities indicates general support for greater flexibility, but calls for clear criteria to avoid conflicting objectives. The The positions now put forward are initially demands or proposals from individual states, not measures that have already been approved. is pressing, according to submissions received, for more precise definitions, for example of which types of vehicle may receive preferential treatment, and is calling for tested measures to be made permanent to a greater extent. At the same time, associations and transport experts warn that permanently free parking in public spaces could create perverse incentives. They fear lost revenue, displacement effects in paid-parking zones and disadvantages for public transport, if bus lanes were opened up more widely. The German government stresses that safety, traffic flow and the capacity of scheduled public transport must take priority, and that any opening of bus lanes will be subject to strict conditions.
The parliamentary process begins with consultations in the Bundestag and hearings involving the Länder and associations. Amendments to the Road Traffic Regulations and other rules are planned as implementation measures. The specific dates on which they will take effect depend on how the process proceeds. Transitional provisions are intended to ensure that existing local authority orders remain legally valid until at least 31 December 2026 . The German government aims to prevent locally introduced privileges from expiring at short notice before new rules take effect. In the government’s view, the measures form part of a broader strategy to support the electrification of road transport without undermining the functioning of urban traffic.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).