Taking possession of a car is certainly a joy, but it also involves some mandatory formalities. It can be problematic, for example, how to register your electric at the Department of Motor Vehicles because it is new on the market, or what documents you need to prepare for registering your car. Check which laws tell you what to do, where to do it and how to do it.
How much does it cost to register an electric car in Poland, bought straight from the showroom?
Buying a new car, apart from the necessary costs of acquiring a vehicle, also involves several administrative fees. All this is so that your electric car can drive around town safely and on the same terms as combustion vehicles. Registering an electric car formally differs little from registering a combustion or hybrid car. The same documents are required of drivers and all fees are also the same. The owner of an electric vehicle is required to pay PLN 180.50. The costs include the issuing of the relevant applications from the office - registration certificate, inspection stickers, green number plates and registration fees. The cost may be increased by additional fees, in this case e.g. individual number plates (own inscription will cost PLN 80-1000). 
What are the fees and how much does it cost to register an electric car imported from abroad?
Importing an electric car from abroad involves additional charges, mainly relating to transporting the car into the country. The costs you will have to pay will depend on where and from which country you decide to buy the car. If you check beforehand what you have to reckon with, you will not be surprised by any additional certificates and fees.
Drivers take two paths when buying a car: they choose to buy electrics from a broker or directly from the owner. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages and comes with different costs. Buying a car from the previous owner, for example, will give you the best knowledge of the vehicle and its history. However, the costs of importing the car can be higher - you will have to pay for travel to the seller, a lorry to take the car to the border and then to your place of residence. In addition, you may have to pay for the diagnostics of the car. These are a number of necessary fees that will be calculated in a different, foreign currency, which significantly increases the overall cost.
Buying a car from an intermediary makes things easier in many ways: you will save time looking for a car, and the intermediary will handle all the paperwork for you and the car will be delivered to you without any problems.
In addition to the registration fees, which will have to be paid in Poland just as when buying a car in the country, additional costs will be (in the case of a car imported from Germany): the translation of documents (purchase and sale agreement) is a fee of around 200 PLN, technical inspection - around 100 PLN, and the registration of a car from Germany will cost approximately 256 PLN.
How much excise duty on an electric car from abroad?
The registration of an electric car from abroad has so far entailed the payment of the so-called excise tax, which was half the tax on combustion cars (1.55% for engines up to 200 cc and 9.3% for engines above 200 cc). From 1 July 2022, a new provision from the Gazette comes into force, according to which electric vehicles that are passenger cars are exempt from paying this tax. This means that when you import an electric car from abroad, you will incur the costs associated with the transport and purchase of the car and its registration in Poland, without any additional charges. 
How much does it cost to register and insure an electric car?
The cost of registering an electric car can in many ways be less than when you have to do all the paperwork with an internal combustion car. Because of being eco, the government encourages drivers to opt for a car that is environmentally friendly, hence the many concessions and facilities (such as being able to use bus lanes). This makes electric cars cheap to run, so the money invested in buying them can pay for itself quickly and you are not adding extra funds to the purchase.
The fees involved in buying an electric car relate to what documents are needed to register the car. These include the registration certificate, number plates, inspection stickers and verification marks. The standard costs are the same - PLN 180.50, the exception being, for example, the purchase of an individual number plate.
Another compulsory purchase is car insurance. As a driver, you are obliged to take possession of it at the latest on the day you register your car. Otherwise, you will have to expect further costs, increasing over time by the fact that your car is not insured.
Comparing the prices of third-party liability policies, owners of electric cars paid on average 24% less for their insurance than owners of petrol-gas-powered cars (the most expensive in the comparison). The price of a policy depends on a number of factors, including the car owner's insurance history, model, make and engine capacity of the vehicle. The average price for OC insurance in the first quarter of 2021 was around PLN 492.
Registering electric cars doesn't have to be problematic if you know what is involved, what is needed to register your vehicle and what costs you may incur. Fortunately, the differences are small and you are ultimately able to save money on the operation of your eco-car.
