EV Incentives Have Dried Up: Italy's Electric Car Share Halved in July 2026, and Used Is Now the Smart Bet

The signal from July 2026

At the end of June 2026, Italy's PNRR bonus for electric cars closed its window. Between October 2025 and June 2026 it had offered up to 11,000 euros to anyone scrapping an old car and buying a zero-emission one. The effect showed up immediately in the numbers: according to data from Motus-E and Unrae, reported by Quattroruote, pure electric cars hit a peak of 10.2% of the Italian market in June; by July, the month after the bonus closed, that share had fallen to 5.9%. Registrations are still up year over year (more than 7,300 units, nearly 25% higher than July 2025), but the month-over-month drop makes clear how dependent the Italian EV market remains on public incentives, far more than France or Germany, where electric share stays reliably above 28-30% without this kind of swing.

Why the bonus is gone, and what is still active

The PNRR bonus, run by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security through the Sogei platform, had a budget of roughly 597 million euros and ended on June 30, 2026, with no reopening announced so far for private cars. What remains active, through December 31, 2026 unless funds run out sooner, is the ordinary MIMIT Ecobonus, but with different amounts and eligibility, and a recent track record of funding pools emptying within hours of opening, exactly as happened with the commercial-vehicle ecobonus and the electric-scooter ecobonus. Motus-E and Unrae are now calling for structural measures, in particular a reform of company-car taxation, to stabilize demand instead of leaving it hostage to incentive windows that open and close within a day.

The real question is not when, but whether waiting even pays off

Anyone shopping for an electric car right now faces an uncomfortable bet: wait for a new scheme, with an uncertain opening date, funding that can vanish within hours, and ISEE and scrappage requirements that are not trivial to meet, or move now. Nobody can say with any confidence when the next private-car bonus will arrive, or how long it will last. On a new car, that uncertainty weighs heavily on the final price. On a used electric car, that variable simply does not exist: the price is already set by the market, with no click-day lottery to win first.

Used EVs: the road tax exemption follows the car, not the owner

One detail many buyers overlook actually works in favor of used cars: Italy's five-year road-tax (bollo) exemption for electric vehicles is tied to the car itself, not to whoever owns it. Buy a two-year-old EV and you automatically inherit the remaining three years of exemption, no application required. In some regions, notably Lombardy and Piedmont, the exemption extends beyond the standard five years and is effectively permanent, a perk that carries over to the next owner regardless. It is a quiet, concrete benefit that no state incentive can take away or let expire overnight.

What to actually check before buying

The real risk with a used EV is not the bollo or a missed incentive, it is the battery, which typically represents 40-50% of the car's value. The number to always ask for is the State of Health, or SoH: above 85% the battery is in good shape, below 75% real-world range starts becoming a daily inconvenience, especially for anyone doing long trips regularly. Many manufacturers offer battery warranties up to 8 years or 160,000 km, and within that window a well-managed battery typically retains 85-92% of its original capacity; before signing, it is always worth confirming that this warranty transfers to a second owner, which is almost always the case but should be checked in writing rather than assumed.

The sweet spot: 2 to 4 years old, 50,000-80,000 km

Industry experts converge on a fairly precise sweet spot: electric cars between two and four years old, with 50,000-80,000 km on the clock and a SoH above 90%. In that band, prices typically run about 35% below the equivalent new car, four to six years of battery warranty remain, and the fast-charging hardware is already modern, with peak DC rates of at least 100 kW. These are the first wave of EVs sold between 2020 and 2023 now reaching the used market, often still under original warranty, a supply that simply did not exist at this scale even a couple of years ago.

The practical details worth not forgetting

Before closing the deal, always ask whether a home wallbox and charging cable are included in the sale: an original Type 2 cable runs 200-400 euros, and a 7.4 kW home wallbox starts around 400 euros, figures that can meaningfully change whether the deal is actually a good one. For purchases above 15,000 euros, buying from a professional dealer provides conformity protections a private seller cannot match, hardly a minor point when the most expensive component of the car, the battery, cannot be assessed by eye.

The practical takeaway

July's collapse in market share is not a sign that electric cars do not work in Italy, it is a snapshot of a market still too dependent on incentives that open and close without reliable warning. For anyone who genuinely needs to change cars now, chasing the next scheme is a bet with uncertain timing and uncertain terms; a well-vetted used EV, checked on SoH and battery warranty, with its road-tax exemption continuing to follow it without needing a single euro of state support, remains the steadier way into electric driving today, without waiting on a window nobody can promise will open.