Quietest change in European road tolling last year: CO2 emission classes went into Eurovignette pricing in March 2025. Two Euro VI trucks lined up at the same border can now be quoted noticeably different daily rates depending on which of the five new CO2 bands they land in, and VECTO-certified low-emission stock gets a real break on the annual rate.
That's the biggest thing a fleet manager needs to get their head around for 2026. There's also the matter of the scheme getting smaller. Denmark pulled out on 1 January 2025, the Netherlands follows on 1 July 2026, and that drops the Eurovignette country list to Luxembourg and Sweden by the middle of this year. But the CO2 update is the one that hits the budget spreadsheet, and it's the one worth understanding first.
Generally, the Eurovignette is a time-based vignette. Fleet managers know it better as a period licence that covers HGV motorway use in whichever countries are still signed up to the original 1994 Eurovignette Treaty. You pay for a chunk of time, a day, a week, a month or a year, and the truck runs those motorways freely for the duration. Whether that's one calendar day before a ferry or twelve months of daily Benelux crossings, the rate's fixed by the window, not by the kilometres. A tractor that sits in the yard four days out of seven pays the same Eurovignette rate as one running Malmö to Luxembourg and back every working day.
Most fleets these days buy through eurovignettes.eu or through a toll-service provider that handles it alongside everything else. A few service stations near participating borders still sell them, though that route is shrinking year on year. Either way, once the vignette is paid, the vehicle's number plate is in the system. No hardware, no sticker in the windscreen, no driver paperwork at the border.
The Eurovignette countries in 2025 were Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands and (until New Year's Day) Denmark. That number has been dropping for years as individual members turned away to the distance-based HGV toll systems run through on-board units, and it drops again in the middle of 2026. For fleets planning 2026 routing, the countries still inside the scheme are:
Denmark left on 1 January 2025 and now operates a distance-based toll administered through Sund & Bælt, with a CO2 component already baked into the rate. The Netherlands has confirmed its own exit for 1 July 2026. From that date, Dutch motorway use for HGVs will be charged through the Vrachtwagenheffing, a per-kilometre scheme run via approved EETS providers and a national settlement body. After 1 July 2026, the Eurovignette covers Luxembourg and Sweden only.
For fleets that regularly operate into or through the Netherlands, don't leave the July 2026 switch until June. Picking an OBU provider takes time. Getting tractors activated on the Dutch network takes more. Then there's the data feed into fleet reporting.
March 2025 brought the biggest pricing change in years. CO2 emission classes were bolted onto the Eurovignette fee structure.
Under the old model, your Eurovignette rate was set by two things: the vehicle's number of axles and its Euro emission class (Euro II, Euro III, up through Euro VI). Cleaner engines paid less. That’s still true. What’s changed is that CO2 performance now sits on top of that calculation.
There are five CO2 classes.
Certification comes through the EU's VECTO system, and the class has to be recorded at the point of purchase.
At any given border crossing, two Euro VI trucks can now be pulling noticeably different Eurovignette prices out of the system. Same engine standard, different CO2 class. Newer fleets with certified low-emission vehicles have a slight edge. Older Euro VI stock, common in subcontracted haulage, doesn’t qualify for a discount and pays the full Class 1 rate.
Rates change. Not often, and usually not by much, but enough to matter if the tolls line on the budget is built off last year's numbers. The current fee schedule lives on eurovignettes.eu and is worth a proper read before any spend gets signed off. For a 2026 ballpark, an annual Eurovignette on a Euro VI Class 1 tractor with four or more axles lands in the low-to-mid four figures, with cleaner CO2 classes coming in below that. For occasional cross-border runs rather than a weekly schedule, the daily and weekly tickets will usually work out cheaper anyway.
Eurovignette trucks are heavy goods vehicles used for commercial goods transport on designated motorway networks in participating countries. Historically that has meant vehicles with a maximum permissible gross weight of 12 tonnes or more, though the 2022 Directive amendments have cleared the way to extending the coverage to some vehicles over 3.5 tonnes as national implementations roll out.
If it's a rigid, a tractor unit, or a drawbar combination above the weight threshold, it's in scope. Cars and light vans stay outside. So does any vehicle not used for commercial goods transport.
Before assuming you need one, check the specific network each country covers. In Luxembourg, the charge applies to the A-road motorway network. In Sweden, it applies to the main E-routes. Driving outside those networks doesn’t automatically require a Eurovignette, but if your routes involve any participating country’s motorways, you need one.
You have three realistic routes.
For fleets of any real size, this is the default option. Your provider takes care of purchasing and renewal, runs the reporting, and rolls payment into whatever you already pay them for European tolls. Your ops team stops chasing expiry dates every Friday. It also puts the Eurovignette on the same monthly statement as your other road charges, which makes reconciliation simpler.
Eurowag’s toll management for fleets covers the Eurovignette alongside OBU-based tolls across Europe in a single consolidated account.
The central booking portal lets you buy daily, weekly, monthly, and annual vignettes for individual vehicles. It works well for a single truck or a small fleet. Manually purchasing and renewing dozens of vignettes across staggered expiry dates is where the admin cost starts to bite.
Some service stations near borders and inside participating countries still sell Eurovignettes, though this option is shrinking as the system digitises.
This is where fleet managers get confused. These terms can overlap and the industry chucks them around without much clarity.
Do you need both a Eurovignette and an OBU? If your routes cross between time-based and distance-based countries, yes. Until the Netherlands switches over in July 2026, a fleet running Benelux to Germany to Austria pays Eurovignette in NL and OBU-based tolls in DE and AT on the same trip.
Short version: the Eurovignette is paid for by time, not by distance. Buy a week, a month, or a year, and the truck runs as much as it wants on the participating motorways inside that window. Standard European tolls work the other way round, they're distance-based, with the OBU in the cab metering kilometres and billing per trip. Most of the continent has moved to that model, which makes the Eurovignette something of a holdout. Luxembourg, Sweden, and (until mid-2026) the Netherlands are the three countries still running it.
Three at the moment: Luxembourg, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Denmark was in until 31 December 2024 and left on New Year's Day 2025. The Netherlands goes the same way on 1 July 2026, which leaves just Luxembourg and Sweden by the back half of the year.
CO2 emission classes were added to the pricing structure in March 2025. Rates now depend on axle count, Euro emission class, and CO2 class. Cleaner vehicles pay less. The CO2 class has to be certified through the EU’s VECTO system and recorded when buying the vignette.
You can buy through the eurovignettes.eu portal, at designated sales points, or through a toll service provider. For fleets of more than a few trucks, a service provider is almost always more cost-effective once admin time is factored in.
Not in the participating countries today. The Eurovignette is a time-based charge and has to be bought separately, even if your truck already has an EETS-compliant OBU for other European tolls. That will change as participating countries migrate to distance-based systems. The Netherlands’ 2026 switch is the clearest example.
Not under the current thresholds. It applies to heavy goods vehicles used for commercial goods transport, typically 12 tonnes maximum permissible gross weight and above. The 2022 Directive amendments cleared the path to expanding scope to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, but the timing of that expansion varies by country.
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