Tennessee EV Registration Fee: $274 in 2027

Tennessee electric vehicle registration fee schedule

The Tennessee Department of Revenue publishes the surcharge in its VR-5 fee schedule. The amounts below are surcharges only. None of them is a full registration total.

Each surcharge is added to the $26.50 standard passenger-vehicle plate fee and to county and city charges. Sources: Tennessee Department of Revenue VR-5; Revenue Notice #23-14.

The schedule was set by the Transportation Modernization Act of 2023, Public Chapter 159 (2023). That law raised the electric vehicle fee and created the hybrid fee, starting with renewals on January 1, 2024.

When does Tennessee’s EV fee go to $274?

The surcharge is charged when you renew your registration, not when you first register the car. The amount depends on when that renewal happens:

• A renewal before January 1, 2027 carries the $200 surcharge.
• A renewal on or after January 1, 2027 (and before January 1, 2028) carries the $274 surcharge.

So an owner whose registration renews in March pays $200 in March 2026 and $274 in March 2027.

Is Tennessee’s EV fee charged at initial registration?

No. The surcharge applies at renewal. Revenue Notice #23-14, as updated in September 2023, says the electric and hybrid fees “only apply at the time the vehicle registration is renewed”, and the current VR-5 schedule sets every amount “for registration renewals”. Revenue’s Vehicle Services County Clerk Guide says the electric fee “is no longer collected at initial registration”, and the Hamilton County Clerk says it applies to renewals only.

In practice:

• Buying a new or used EV and registering it in Tennessee for the first time: that initial registration does not include the EV surcharge. You pay it at your first renewal, at whatever rate applies on that date.
• Renewing an existing EV registration: the surcharge is included, at $200 or $274 depending on the renewal date.

An earlier Revenue news item from June 2023 said the fee applied to initial registrations as well. Revenue’s later, updated notice says renewal only, and this page follows the updated guidance.

Renewing close to January 1, 2027

Revenue’s published schedule (VR-5 and Notice #23-14) is worded by renewal date: $200 “for registration renewals” before January 1, 2027, and $274 for renewals on or after that date. Revenue’s Vehicle Services County Clerk Guide words the same dates as “registration renewals expiring” on or after each date. If your renewal falls close to January 1, 2027, for example a registration that expires in early January that you plan to renew in late December, confirm with your county clerk which amount will be charged before you pay.

Is Tennessee’s EV fee on top of registration?

Yes. Revenue states that the electric and hybrid fees are in addition to the standard registration fee of $26.50. For an all-electric car renewed in 2027:

The $300.50 is the standard plate fee plus the EV surcharge, a subtotal before local charges. It is not the full renewal cost for most drivers, because many counties and cities add their own charges. Examples from the county clerks’ own fee pages, checked November 5, 2026:

• Knox County: a $36 wheel tax on all motorized vehicles.
• Davidson County (Nashville): a $55 Metro Vehicle Regulatory Fee (wheel tax) for a private passenger vehicle.
• Shelby County: a $75 wheel tax for a privately owned vehicle ($105 if leased or owned by a business), plus a $60 city fee inside the City of Memphis.
• Hamilton County: Chattanooga residents add a $5 city sticker.

The same Davidson, Shelby and Hamilton clerk pages list the standard registration at $29 rather than the state’s $26.50.

To see your own figure with local charges included, estimate your Tennessee registration and renewal fees and set the fuel type to electric. The calculator follows the renewal rule: it leaves the surcharge out of a first registration and adds it to a renewal, at the $200 rate that applies to renewals before January 1, 2027.

Tennessee hybrid registration fee 2027

Hybrids and plug-in hybrids do not pay $274. Both stay at $100 for every renewal before January 1, 2028, so their surcharge is the same in 2027 as it has been since 2024.

The $100 covers conventional hybrids as well as plug-in hybrids. A 2026 proposal to limit the fee to plug-in hybrids only (SB 1839 / HB 1782) failed in a House subcommittee on February 10, 2026, so the schedule still includes both.

Military exemption from the all-electric surcharge

Since July 1, 2026, some service members do not pay the all-electric surcharge when they renew. Public Chapter 969 (2026) added the exemption to Tennessee Code Annotated § 55-4-116, and Revenue lists it, effective July 1, 2026, in its 2026 Legislative Summary and its Vehicle Services County Clerk Guide. It applies to registrations renewed on or after July 1, 2026, when all of these are true:

• Who: a member of a uniformed service in active military service of the United States.
• Where: stationed outside Tennessee under orders of the member’s branch of service, and not at a military reservation located partly within Tennessee and partly in another state.
• Which vehicle: an all-electric vehicle being renewed. The exemption does not cover hybrids or plug-in hybrids.
• Whose name: the vehicle is titled and registered in the service member’s name, alone or jointly with a spouse or lineal relative.

Documents: give the county clerk a copy of the official orders related to your stationing. The copy must be submitted at the time the registration is renewed.

The exemption covers the EV surcharge under § 55-4-116. The act does not mention the standard plate fee or county and city charges. Ask your county clerk how those apply to your renewal.

Does the amount change in 2028?

Yes. From January 1, 2028, both the $274 electric surcharge and the $100 hybrid surcharge are adjusted annually for inflation. Tennessee Revenue has not published the 2028 amounts, and this page does not estimate them. When Revenue publishes them on the VR-5 schedule, we will add them here.

What the surcharge adds up to

Because the amounts can change every year from 2028, this page does not show a fixed five- or ten-year cost. One bounded illustration: an all-electric car with one renewal before January 1, 2027 (at the $200 rate) and its next renewal during 2027 (at the $274 rate) pays $474 in EV surcharges across those two renewals. That $474 counts the surcharges only. It excludes the $26.50 standard plate fee at each renewal and all county and city charges. It says nothing about 2028 or later, when Revenue’s inflation-adjusted amounts will apply.

What the Tennessee EV fee is for

Tennessee funds its roads partly through fuel taxes paid at the pump. An all-electric vehicle buys no gasoline or diesel, so the state charges a yearly registration surcharge instead. A hybrid still buys some fuel, and its surcharge is lower. The amounts were set by the legislature in the 2023 transportation funding law. The surcharge is a flat amount; it does not change with how far you drive.

Revenue’s Vehicle Services County Clerk Guide states that low-speed and medium-speed electric vehicles (such as golf carts) are exempt from the electric and hybrid vehicle renewal fee, and that electric motorcycles are excluded from paying this additional fee.

For any other question about whether the surcharge applies to your vehicle, ask the Tennessee Department of Revenue or your county clerk directly.

States charge very different amounts for electric cars. See how Tennessee compares on the EV registration fee by state page.

Questions about the Tennessee EV registration fee

More on registering a car in Tennessee

Nearby states

Or see every state on the EV registration fee by state page.

Where these numbers come from