Frequently asked questions

Funding is available for the purchase and leasing of zero-emission or clean new commercial vehicles of EC vehicle classes N1, N2 and N3 with fuel cell or hydrogen combustion engines.

No. In the interests of responsible and efficient use of taxpayers' money, double funding is not permitted. The content of existing projects that may be supported by other funding must be clearly differentiated from the H2N project applied for.

While the call for funding is open, you can submit an application via our electronic application system. Prior activation by the Bavarian project management organization is not necessary.

The H2N funding program is implemented via funding calls, in which the exact deadlines will be announced.

The implementation period is 12 months. More detailed information can be found under the procedure described.

Your company must not be in financial difficulties. You must be able to provide verifiable proof that you can finance your own share of the costs incurred. You can find out what evidence you need to provide in the application system.

In the event of non-compliance with the obligations, the grant will be revoked.

The funding is provided as a grant, whereby up to 80% of the additional investment costs can be funded. The funding is capped depending on the commercial vehicle class. The exact funding conditions will be announced in the respective funding calls.

In accordance with No. 5.3 of the funding guideline, the maximum grant amounts per vehicle are determined according to vehicle class and announced in the respective call for funding. The funding guideline therefore provides for a cap. A differentiation according to fuel cell or hydrogen combustion vehicles may result from the funding call.

In accordance with No. 5.2.1 of the funding guidelines, the additional investment costs resulting from the comparison with a conventional vehicle are decisive. To this end, the applicant must submit a comparative offer for a conventionally powered vehicle of the same design. This does not necessarily have to come from the same manufacturer; the technical comparability of the vehicle is decisive.

In accordance with point 5.2.2 of the Directive, in the case of leasing, the additional expenditure corresponds to the difference between the net present value of the lease of the zero-emission or clean vehicle and the net present value of the lease of a vehicle of the same category complying with the relevant Union standards already in force, which would have been leased without the grant. When determining the eligible expenditure, the operating costs associated with the operation of the vehicle, including energy costs, insurance costs and maintenance costs, are not taken into account, regardless of whether they are included in the leasing contract. In this respect, the calculation is based on the difference between the leasing installments (excluding operating costs, etc.) added up over the leasing period.

The applicant and recipient of the grant is the lessee or the lease purchaser with registered office, branch or permanent establishment in Bavaria, to whom the vehicle is registered and who has stationed the vehicle in Bavaria. Leasing companies or others can support the lessee with the application, but the lessee must submit the application. The subsidy cannot be assigned to the lessor.

The lessee is the applicant and recipient of the grant. The lessor is not involved in the funding process and its location is therefore not relevant to the funding.

The funding guideline does not provide for any restriction to specific leasing or purchase models. In principle, various leasing or (rental) purchase models are therefore eligible for funding, provided that the vehicle is registered to the grant recipient in Bavaria and the earmarking period of at least 24 months is observed in the case of leasing in accordance with No. 7.2 of the funding guideline. The decisive factor is that the vehicle remains registered to the grant recipient in the Free State of Bavaria without interruption for at least the duration of the earmarking period.
However, it should be noted that the operating costs associated with the operation of the vehicle, including energy costs, insurance costs and maintenance costs, are not taken into account when determining the eligible expenditure, regardless of whether they are included in the leasing contract. In this respect, applications can be submitted for all of these leasing options, which will then be checked for eligibility on a case-by-case basis.

The constellation in which the subsidized commercial vehicle is passed on to one or more other companies as part of a lease, while the commercial vehicle remains registered to the grant recipient without interruption and the grant recipient and lessee are located in Bavaria, is generally not detrimental to the subsidy. It must be ensured that the required mileage of 20,000 km continues to be met so that the purpose of the grant is not missed.
However, registering the commercial vehicle to a lessee and thus not to the grant recipient is not compatible with the funding guideline.

In accordance with No. 6.7 of the funding guidelines, payment is made to the recipient of the grant, who must also be the applicant.

If the vehicle is purchased, the grant is paid after the grant notification has become final and after submission of the proof of use. In the case of leasing or installment plan, several partial payments are possible, whereby the payment modalities are regulated in the grant notification.
The subsequent processing time cannot be predicted with certainty. However, experience has shown that it can be expected to take around two to three months before payment is made.