Electric motorcycles were once considered by many as the shining beacon of the future of mobility. This was a few years ago, and the surge in demand during the pandemic era fueled innovation. It drove manufacturers to develop more and more electric offerings. But the sad reality is that the landscape is changing.
Recent months have seen a dizzying number of EV startups go under. And as disappointing as it may seem, it appears that this is just the beginning.
Now, if we fix our gaze over to the Netherlands, the electric motorcycle landscape is changing. And it’s by no means a good story. For quite a while now, the Netherlands has been home to quite a few EV motorcycle startups. But this could all be about to change, as the Dutch government has decided to apply a massive tax on EV two-wheelers through its BPM, or “Belasting van Personenauto’s en Motorrijwielen,” also known as private vehicle tax.
Let’s dive a little bit deeper. An electric car that emits zero pollutants gets its BPM waived completely. However, a motorcycle—electric motorcycles are now part of this—gets a BPM of 19.4 percent minus 210 euros (around $216 USD).
An article from the Dutch electric motorcycling publication The Pack puts this number into perspective. It shows us two popular commuter models, namely the Yamaha Tracer 900 and the Energica Experia. From 2025 onward, the Tracer will retain its €16,299 (around $16,740 USD) price tag, while the Energica will see its price tag soar from €30,451.80 (approx. $31,275 USD) to €35,010 (around $35,958 USD). This €4,559 ($4,682 USD) increase is solely due to the imposition of BPM on electric motorcycles. And surely, it’s a sum hefty enough to have potential buyers second-guessing their purchase decisions.
Another major hurdle comes in the form of the removal of subsidies previously offered to EV motorcycle buyers. Previously, they didn’t have to pay road tax, along with the previously mentioned BPM tax breaks. However, from 2025, EV motorcycle owners will now have to pay road tax. So to make that clear, folks who buy electric motorcycles from 2025 onward will not only have to pay a massive private vehicle tax, they’ll also now have to pay road tax, too. Talk about adding insult to injury.
But things get even worse. Compared to other parts of Europe, the Netherlands isn’t super big on motorcycles. Visordown explains that around 700,000 motorcycles plied the Netherlands’ roads in 2023—around half that of the UK’s 1.3 million motorcycles, and minuscule when compared to the US' 8.8 million motorcycles. So it seems that motorcycles and their riders are not at the top of the Dutch government’s agenda, and it might just be using electric motorcycles as an easy target to make a few extra Euros in the process.
And that sucks. Big time.
At a time when the future of mobility is very much in question, governments stifling innovation by slapping on massive taxes does absolutely zero favors for anyone—not just within the Netherlands, but all over the world, too.
Now I get it. The picture is so much bigger than just motorcycles. As mentioned earlier, motorcycles play a rather small part in the Dutch mobility sector, but that’s not to say they’re worth nothing. The global motorcycle industry has trundled forward, displaying growth year after year. And with Europe’s ultimate goal of decongestion and carbon-neutrality, electric two-wheelers hold the biggest potential for widespread change.
Needless to say, the new taxes imposed on electric two-wheelers in the Netherlands is a big step back, not just for the country, but for the European Union’s goals of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
