Home charger bonus: in 2022 the money went unclaimed, in 2026 it ran out in five weeks
30 October 2026, 15:56
On 27 October, at midday, the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (Mimit) closed the window for the home charging point bonus, the incentive through which the State refunds four fifths of the cost, up to a ceiling, to anyone who installs a charging point for an electric car at home or in a block of flats. Applications had been accepted on the Invitalia website since 22 September, and the deadline was January 2027. In five weeks more than 16,000 arrived, and the €15 million set aside for this year ran out. Mimit called it a «great success».
The incentive goes to whoever applies first, and the application can only be made once the work is finished. Anyone who fits a charging point between now and December will therefore pay the full cost, unless the ministry finds more money: the rules exclude from the 2027 bonus any installation made in 2026. The success, for them, belongs entirely to the ministry.
The budget, Mimit sources explained, had been calibrated on take-up in the last rounds of the previous bonus, which between 2022 and 2024 granted just over 22 of the €100 million allocated. For 2022 alone there were 40, reserved for installations made between October and December, and less than a fiftieth of it was granted; those who had installed a charging point in those months, what is more, could only claim the refund a year later, and for two weeks. Back then the money was waiting for applications. Now the applications are waiting for the money.
What kept take-up low back then, according to the same sources, was also the Superbonus: anyone who had already used it could not claim the charging point bonus. Through that scheme the State had paid for the installation of around 350,000 home charging points, at a cost of more than €600 million. That sum came out of the public budget, that is, out of every citizen's taxes, including those who do not own a car; the beneficiaries were the owners of the renovated homes. The small incentive, in short, found few customers, and many of them had already been served by the big one, at the Treasury's expense.
The criterion, moreover, takes no account of income. Whoever applies first wins, and to apply one must already have paid for the installation: those who cannot afford to pay up front do not even make it into the queue. Also left out are charging points fitted in 2025 and in the first half of 2026, including those of people who installed after Mimit had announced the bonus on 30 January: only installations made from 26 June count, the day the decree came into force.
One question remains for the Ministry of Enterprises: how many charging points installed in November and December will be left without a refund, neither this year's nor next year's?
The charging point bonus will last until 2030. For anyone installing one in November, it ended on 27 October.
This article was prompted by a news item published in Il Post on 27 October 2026.