Why does a car have green plates? What they mean in Ukraine

On the streets of Ukrainian cities, you can increasingly spot cars with license plates where the characters are printed in green. This is not a decorative element and not part of car tuning — even if the owner installs additional tuning, the plate color is determined solely by state standards. Green license plates were introduced in 2020 to officially identify electric vehicles.

Who gets green license plates?

According to the rules of the Ministry of Internal Affairs service centers, these plates are issued only to vehicles that run exclusively on electric drive:

• Fully electric cars (BEV) — for example, Tesla, Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen ID.
• Electric motorcycles, mopeds, quad bikes, and other electric transport.
• Vehicles without an internal combustion engine (ICE).

At the same time, hybrids (HEV, PHEV), even with the ability to charge from the grid, do not receive green plates because they are equipped with a gasoline or diesel engine.

Do green plates provide benefits?

The main purpose of green plates is visual identification of electric transport. In different years, electric cars have had tax incentives for import. In addition, in some cities EVs may use dedicated parking spaces or have additional advantages when accessing charging infrastructure.

Registration specifics

These plates use letters of the Latin alphabet that visually correspond to Ukrainian characters. The plate format is approved by the state standard and cannot be changed by the vehicle owner.