Budget 2027 and Your Car: EV Grant, VRT, Fuel

Illustration of a car with an arrow to a Budget 2027 list: EV VRT relief, SEAI grant, carbon tax, motor tax

Last checked against official sources on 3 October 2026.

This guide is general information, not legal, tax, financial or mechanical advice. Rules, rates and fees change, so confirm the details with the official sources listed at the end before you act. CarQnA is not affiliated with any of them.

Budget 2027 lands on Tuesday 6 October 2026, and two things Irish car buyers care about run out at the end of this year: the VRT relief on electric cars and the SEAI purchase grant. A third, the €5,000 scrappage top-up, sold out in hours and is under review. Here is what is in place today, what the motor trade is asking for, and what is already locked in for fuel. Every figure below is sourced. We will update this page on budget day with what the Minister actually announces.

The quick summary

Budget day: Tuesday 6 October 2026, presented by the Minister for Finance, Simon Harris, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers.
The size of it: an €8.5 billion package, €1.5 billion in tax measures and €7 billion in extra spending, set out in the Summer Economic Statement on 22 July 2026.
EV VRT relief of up to €5,000 currently covers electric cars registered before 31 December 2026.
The SEAI purchase grant of up to €3,500 is only confirmed to the end of 2026.
Carbon tax on petrol and diesel is €71 a tonne, and the law already sets a €7.50 rise each year to 2029.

Why this budget matters if you are buying a car

Most of the money is earmarked elsewhere. The Government has said the €1.5 billion tax package is aimed at workers and take-home pay, which usually means income tax bands and credits. Motoring measures tend to be smaller lines in the budget, but they can move the price of a car by thousands of euro, and this year several of them run out on the same date.

1. VRT relief on electric cars: extend or expire

Battery electric cars get up to €5,000 off Vehicle Registration Tax. The full relief applies where Revenue values the car (its OMSP) at €40,000 or less, and it tapers to nothing at €50,000. Budget 2026 extended it by one year, so today it covers electric cars registered before 31 December 2026.

If Budget 2027 does nothing, that relief ends with the year, and an electric car registered in January 2027 could cost up to €5,000 more in VRT than the same car registered in December. The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), which represents car dealers, has asked for the relief to be extended until 2030.

2. The SEAI grant: confirmed only to the end of 2026

SEAI's purchase grant takes up to €3,500 off a new battery electric car bought privately, and the dealer applies it at the point of sale. From applications after 31 July 2026, the car's price must be €50,000 or less, down from €60,000. The grant is only confirmed to the end of 2026, and SIMI's pre-budget submission asks for it to be extended beyond that.

3. Scrappage: the €5,000 top-up that sold out

The ICE2EV pilot offered €5,000 on top of the SEAI grant for trading in a petrol or diesel car registered in 2013 or earlier against a new electric car, up to €8,500 in total. Its €10 million budget, enough for about 2,000 cars, went within hours of opening on 1 July 2026. The Department of Transport and SEAI said they would review it before any decision on a future scheme. SIMI wants a scrappage scheme introduced in 2027, so watch for whether the review turns into money on budget day.

4. Fuel: the carbon tax rise is already written into law

Carbon tax on petrol and diesel rose from €63.50 to €71 a tonne on budget night last year, adding around 2.5c to a litre. The Finance Act 2020 sets out a rise of €7.50 a tonne every year until 2029, reaching €100 a tonne in 2030. If this year follows that path, the rate on petrol and diesel goes to €78.50 a tonne. The exact effect at the pump depends on the fuel and on retailers, so we will add the official figure when it is published.

5. What the motor trade has asked for

SIMI's pre-budget submission for Budget 2027 is the clearest list of what the industry is lobbying for. These are requests, not decisions:

Extend the electric car VRT relief until 2030.
Extend the SEAI purchase grant beyond 2026.
Extend the current benefit-in-kind relief for electric company cars.
No changes to VRT rates or bands, and no new weight-based VRT surcharge.
No changes to motor tax.
Introduce a scrappage scheme in 2027.

Motor tax

Budget 2026 made no change to motor tax, so a fully electric car still pays €120 a year and petrol and diesel cars pay by CO2 band. Any change announced on 6 October would normally be set out in the budget documents and on motortax.ie.

Should you wait or buy now?

If you are buying an electric car and its OMSP is under €50,000, registering it before 31 December 2026 locks in today's VRT relief whatever the budget says. If you are hoping for a new scrappage scheme, nothing has been announced yet, so there is no grant to plan around until the Government says so. For petrol and diesel drivers, the carbon tax path is already set; the budget decides only whether it is applied as the law lays out.

What happens next

We will update this guide, our electric car grant guide and our VRT guide on 6 October with the figures from the official budget documents, and only those. Until then, treat anything you read about budget measures as speculation unless it comes from gov.ie, Revenue or SEAI.

Common questions

When is Budget 2027 in Ireland?

Tuesday 6 October 2026. The date was set in the Summer Economic Statement published on 22 July 2026.

Will the VRT relief on electric cars be extended?

Not yet known. It currently covers electric cars registered before 31 December 2026, and SIMI has asked for it to run until 2030. We will update this page on budget day.

Is the SEAI electric car grant ending?

It is only confirmed to the end of 2026. Whether it continues into 2027 depends on Government decisions, which may come with the budget.

Will petrol and diesel go up in Budget 2027?

The Finance Act 2020 sets a €7.50 a tonne carbon tax rise each year to 2029. On that path the rate on petrol and diesel goes from €71 to €78.50 a tonne.

Budget 2027: What Could Change for Irish Car Buyers on 6 October