Regional grants for commercial vehicles 2026: how to navigate them (and why they often pay)

If your company runs vans or trucks in Italy, the national incentives (the Ecobonus purchase grants, the PNRR bonus and the DPCM Automotive decree) are only half the picture. Several Italian regions run their own non-repayable grants for replacing polluting company vehicles, and for a business with a site in the right region they can be worth more than the national schemes.

The regions set them up, in the four cases covered here with central-government funds earmarked for air quality, and they work differently from national measures: smaller budgets, fixed application windows and a requirement to have a site in the region. This article covers the four schemes whose official texts we have read (Lombardy, Piedmont, Lazio and Veneto), where each stands on 3 November 2026, and what to check before you count on one.

Where the schemes stand on 3 November 2026

The categories are the EU type-approval ones: N1 are vans up to 3.5 tonnes, N2 trucks up to 12 tonnes, N3 heavier trucks, M2 minibuses. For a truck over 3.5 tonnes, three of the four schemes apply: Piedmont and Lazio now, Lombardy from March.

Lombardy: the 2027 round opens on 2 March

Rinnova Veicoli has two annual rounds. The 2026 round, worth €2.97 million, opened on 3 June and closed on 1 July: by 30 June, in the first monthly window, 383 applications had asked for €2.98 million, more than the budget. The 2027 round opens on 2 March 2027 at 10:00. It started with €970,000, and a decision of the regional government of 19 October 2026 (DGR 6954) added €3,467,280.60, taking it to about €4.44 million, roughly one and a half times the round that ran out in under four weeks.

Applications go through ReStart, the chambers of commerce platform, in monthly windows and in order of submission, with one exception: in the window where the money runs out, applications are admitted by lottery. The closing date is unclear: the implementing call says 30 September 2027, the Region’s page says 31 August. Given how fast the 2026 money went, what matters is getting into the March window.

The main rules:

• you scrap and deregister a petrol or gas vehicle up to Euro 3 or a diesel up to Euro 5, registered to the company for more than 12 months (a Euro 5 diesel can be exported instead);
• the new vehicle must be registered for the first time in Italy, so pre-registered stock is excluded;
• rental is excluded; a finance lease is allowed if it obliges you to buy the vehicle and the upfront payment is at least as large as the grant, which is €30,000 for an electric N3;
• both own-account transport and haulage for hire qualify;
• each company can file up to four applications across the two rounds, one per vehicle scrapped; the operating site in Lombardy must exist by the time the grant is paid, so a company that is opening one can apply; the aid falls under the EU de minimis rules.

The grant is a flat amount per vehicle, and gas, hybrid, petrol and diesel vehicles must be Euro 6E / VI:

Piedmont: open until 30 April 2027, rental included

The Piedmont fleet renewal scheme has been open since 2025 and now runs until 30 April 2027, unless the money runs out first. The sources disagree on the time of day: the extension decision of 17 April 2026 (no. 257) says 12:00, the republished call and the regional portal say 16:00. It has €13.96 million of central-government funds across three lines. The official pages publish no counter of what is left; in that same decision, in April 2026, the Region noted that applications had fallen short of expectations and the money was not yet fully allocated.

• Purchase (€5.5 million): 30% of the price for electric and hydrogen, 20% for petrol, petrol hybrid, CNG and LPG, 15% for Euro 6/VI-E diesel. Diesel only counts for N2, N3 and M2, though: for a purchased N1 the call rules out diesel in any form, which the Region’s summary page does not mention. Bodywork and fit-out get 20% to 30% too. Besides new vehicles, the scheme accepts pre-registered and used ones up to 100,000 km, at least Euro 6/VI-D.
• Long-term rental or lease, finance or operating, of at least 36 months (€8 million): 30% of the first 36 months of payments for electric, 25% for petrol, hybrid and gas, 15% for diesel. Here diesel is allowed for N1 as well.
• Converting a diesel of Euro 3 or later to electric or gas (€460,000): up to 30% of the cost.

You scrap a diesel up to Euro 5, a petrol vehicle up to Euro 2, or an LPG or CNG vehicle of Euro 0 or 1. Each company can request up to ten grants per line, one application per vehicle, and needs an operating site in Piedmont. Grant recipients also commit, for three years, to enrol in MOVE IN any of their vehicles that fall under the traffic restrictions and drive in the restricted municipalities; MOVE IN is the regional service that tracks the mileage driven there. An electric or plug-in hybrid also earns up to €2,000 towards a charging point, once per company.

Lazio: until 31 December 2026, in six municipalities

The call run by Lazio Innova, the regional development agency, is open to companies of any size with an operating site in Rome, Fiumicino, Guidonia Montecelio, Tivoli, Marino or Monterotondo, the municipalities covered by the regional air quality plan’s restrictions. The €9.7 million is split by municipality: €5.82 million for Rome, €970,000 each for Fiumicino, Guidonia Montecelio and Tivoli, €485,000 each for Marino and Monterotondo. Applications go through the GeCoWEB Plus portal, one per company and first come first served, until 17:00 on 31 December 2026: a decision of 30 March (G04122) extended the deadline from 31 March and raised the limit from two to five vehicles per company.

The grant is a flat amount: €7,000 for an electric N1 and €10,000 for an electric N2; €3,500 and €5,000 for a Euro 6 hybrid, plug-in hybrid, LPG or CNG vehicle. New diesel and petrol vehicles are excluded. You scrap an N1 or N2 diesel up to Euro 4 or petrol up to Euro 2, registered to the company for at least 12 months; a Euro 4 diesel can also be exported.

The sequence matters. The application needs a quote from an authorised dealer, and the new vehicle has to be registered to the company after the application date, so anything already on the road, pre-registered stock included, does not qualify. Within 60 days of the commitment letter that follows the award you send the binding purchase contract; you then have nine months from the award, extendable by six for delivery delays, to complete the purchase, scrap the old vehicle and claim the money. Rental is excluded, a finance lease is allowed.

Veneto: closed to new applicants, second phase until 15 July 2027

Veneto’s €5 million scheme had a single application window, from 27 May to 7 October 2026 after a regional decree of 7 August (no. 16998) extended it. Applications are ranked on a score that favours the most polluting vehicles scrapped, micro-enterprises and sites in municipalities with air quality orders. The ranking is due by 24 November 2026. Companies that make the list have until 12:00 on 15 July 2027 to upload proof of purchase or rental and of scrapping (the Region’s page on how the scheme works still shows 20 October and 10 June, the dates before the extension). Making the list does not guarantee the grant: you buy and scrap first, and grants are paid in ranking order until the money runs out. Anyone who did not apply by 7 October is out.

The scheme only covers M1 and N1 up to 3.5 tonnes, Euro 6D or later, diesel included, on two lines of €2.5 million each: purchase, including pre-registered vehicles, and rental or lease of at least 36 months. The base grant is 30% of the price, or of the first three years of payments, for electric and hydrogen, 20% for hybrid, petrol, bi-fuel and CNG, and 15% for diesel. It is multiplied by a factor of 0.9 to 1.3 depending on company size and the vehicle scrapped, up to €20,000 per vehicle. With rental and leases, though, the grant cannot exceed the upfront payment and the instalments already paid when the documents are uploaded. Veneto requires both the registered office and an operating site in the region.

What the four schemes have in common

They differ a lot, but they share a few traits:

• Who qualifies: companies registered in the Italian companies register with a site in the region. Veneto wants both registered office and operating site there, Lombardy and Piedmont an operating site, Lazio an operating site in one of the six municipalities.
• Group size counts in three of the four: Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto are limited to SMEs under the EU definition, which adds up linked and partner enterprises, so the Italian subsidiary of a large international group does not qualify, however small the local fleet. Lazio sets no size limit, so a large group with a depot in Rome or Fiumicino can apply within the de minimis ceiling.
• Scrapping: all four pay for a vehicle (new, pre-registered in Piedmont and Veneto, used in Piedmont) against an old one taken off the road. The exceptions are Piedmont’s conversion line, which converts the vehicle you already own, and Lombardy’s e-cargo bikes and light electric two- and three-wheelers, which get a smaller grant without scrapping.
• Non-repayable: unlike the Nuova Sabatini, which subsidises the interest on a loan, a regional grant cuts the price or the lease payments, either as a percentage (Piedmont and Veneto) or as a flat amount per vehicle (Lombardy and Lazio).
• De minimis: all four fall under the EU de minimis regulation (2023/2831), so they use up the €300,000 three-year ceiling, which applies per single undertaking: companies linked by control share one ceiling.
• Timing: Lombardy, Piedmont and Lazio award grants in order of submission (Lombardy with a lottery in the window where the money runs out), while Veneto ranked its applications. Either way the window has fixed dates and the money can run out first.
• Three-year lock-in: you cannot sell the subsidised vehicle for three years, counted from payment in Lombardy and Lazio, from the award in Piedmont and from registration in Veneto; rental contracts must run for at least 36 months. It matters if your fleet policy rotates vehicles quickly.

Where to find them (and when)

There is no single national portal for regional calls, which is why many companies miss them. The channels to watch:

• the region’s website (sections on calls, the environment and business support);
• the regional Unioncamere (the association of chambers of commerce) and the chambers themselves, which run the scheme on the Region’s behalf in Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont (in Lazio it is Lazio Innova);
• local grant consultants, who track the openings.

Everything is in Italian, and the portals expect Italian credentials. Lombardy and Piedmont use ReStart, which you enter with an Italian digital identity (SPID, CNS or CIE); the forms need the legal representative’s digital signature and a certified email address (PEC), and an appointed intermediary can file on the company’s behalf. Lazio’s GeCoWEB Plus also requires the legal representative’s digital signature. If your Italian entity relies on a local accountant or advisor, line them up before the window opens.

Timing is the critical point. In 2026 the Lombardy round ran out in its first monthly window, so there the goal is the opening window; in Piedmont and Lazio it is the order of submission. Knowing in advance which vehicles you want to replace, with the paperwork for the ones to be scrapped ready, is what gets you in early rather than after the money is gone.

What to check before counting on it

Six checks before building a renewal plan on a regional grant:

1. Location: does your registered office or operating site meet the scheme’s territorial requirement? In Lazio it comes down to the municipality.
2. Vehicles: does the scheme cover the category and powertrain you want? Lombardy and Piedmont go up to N3, Lazio to N2, Veneto stops at N1. New diesel is excluded in Lazio and, for purchased N1, in Piedmont.
3. Scrapping: do you have a vehicle that qualifies? Category, Euro class and how long it has been registered to the company all count: 12 months in Lombardy and Lazio, and in Piedmont at least 12 months as of 27 February 2025.
4. Purchase, lease or rental: Piedmont and Veneto also fund rental payments; Lombardy and Lazio accept a finance lease but not rental.
5. Order of steps: in Lazio the vehicle must be registered after you apply. In Lombardy the call requires purchase and scrapping after 13 April 2026, and the criteria in regional decision 5989 want the application filed before the purchase is completed, so do not sign before you have applied. In Piedmont purchase and registration must come after 27 February 2025.
6. Stacking: Lombardy and Veneto rule out combining their grant with other public aid on the same costs, Piedmont allows it up to the expense claimed, Lazio within the de minimis ceiling and the other scheme’s own limits. The rest is in the guide to stacking and de minimis.

⚠️ Regional schemes change often: budgets, percentages, windows and requirements must be checked on the official site when you apply. This is the position on 3 November 2026, read from the calls and decisions listed at the end, and it does not replace the text of the call.

How it fits into the overall picture

The regional grant is one piece of the picture. The useful sequence:

1. Work out which national measure you can access (the commercial Ecobonus, whose 2026 tranche has already run out, with the next one in 2027; the now-closed PNRR micro-enterprise measure; the Nuova Sabatini). The quickest route is the free tool: check which national measure applies to you in 5 questions, before you look for your region’s grant. For the full picture there is the 2026 commercial vehicle incentives guide.
2. Check your region’s scheme and its stacking rules with the national one.
3. Assess the financing lever with the Nuova Sabatini.
4. Decide which vehicles to renew on total cost of ownership, not on the sum of the grants: which data to look at is covered in our analysis of renewing the fleet with incentives. Regional schemes pay for one-for-one replacement, a vehicle for each one scrapped, so before scrapping four to buy four it is worth asking whether your routes really need four. The route optimisation self-assessment tells you in 8 questions whether better planning would actually change your numbers, scoring problem complexity, process headroom and data readiness.

The bottom line

Regional grants are the most overlooked source of subsidised finance for renewing commercial vehicles in Italy, yet for companies based in the right region they can match or beat the national schemes: Lombardy pays €30,000 for an electric N3 truck, Piedmont up to 30% of the price. The constraint is access: short windows, limited funds, no single portal. The dates to note for the coming months are 31 December for Lazio, 2 March for Lombardy and 30 April for Piedmont.

To be ready for any call (national or regional), the part that matters is always the same: knowing which vehicles to replace and with what. That decision rests on fleet data and total cost of ownership. A fleet tracking and management platform collects that data every day. The downloadable practical guide gathers the steps and documents to prepare.

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