Subsidy for hydrogen in road transport (SWIM): how a company from abroad takes part

Who can apply: a partnership with a Dutch registration for each partner

A partnership of companies applies for SWIM. One company is the lead partner (in Dutch: penvoerder). The lead partner submits the application for the whole partnership and handles all contact with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Dutch government agency that implements the scheme.

The partnership has at least:

• one operator of a hydrogen refuelling station, existing or planned;
• one company active in transport or logistics.

Each partner is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK) and has a business location in the Netherlands (Article 2.1.4 of the Tijdelijke subsidieregeling zero-emissie mobiliteit, the Dutch regulation with the SWIM rules). This applies to every company in the partnership: the station operator, the transport company and the leasing company that owns vehicles in the project.

For a company from abroad, this means a Dutch company or a Dutch branch of the foreign company, registered with the KVK. The business location (in Dutch: vestiging) is your own place of business in the Netherlands, such as a depot, an office or the station site. A Dutch private limited company (a BV) keeps the subsidy, the vehicles and the duties of the coming years together in one Dutch company, apart from your company at home.

Leasing. The owner of a vehicle receives the subsidy for that vehicle. With operational lease, the leasing company owns the vehicle, receives the subsidy and joins the partnership as a partner. With financial lease, the company that uses the vehicle receives the subsidy (RVO, 2026).

What the subsidy is for, and how much you receive

The percentages and limits below are in Article 2.1.6 of the regulation, as changed for 2026.

One project receives at most €12 million in total (RVO, 2026): €4 million for a multimodal station plus €8 million for vehicles. For a station for road transport alone, the total is at most €11 million. Mobile hydrogen storage on a trailer counts as part of the station: up to three units per station during the scheme, for the supply of that station and as its storage.

Example. With a station of 1,000 kilograms a day, the partners receive up to €4 million for vehicles (1,000 × €4,000). With 2,000 kilograms a day or more, the limit for vehicles is €8 million.

Limit per vehicle

Each vehicle and each piece of equipment also has a maximum amount, so the final subsidy can be lower than 80% (RVO, 2026). For logistics equipment with a fuel cell, the maximum is €100,000 for a material handler, a forklift truck with a lifting capacity of more than 5 tonnes or a telehandler, and €300,000 for a pushback truck or a terminal tractor (Article 2.1.6).

The conditions for the refuelling station

• Capacity. At least 1,000 kilograms of hydrogen a day.
• Fuelling points. At least two that work independently of each other.
• Heavy road transport. The environment and planning permit (omgevingsvergunning) includes heavy road transport. RVO looks at the permit, also when trucks can technically use the pumps (RVO, 2026).
• Permit stage. The permit is applied for, or granted, when you apply for the subsidy.
• Access. Open to the public, or only to the partners. A public station has a 350 bar and a 700 bar fuelling point, payment by bank card or contactless card, and a clear price before each fill.
• Use. The vehicles and equipment that the partners buy or convert in the project take, on average, at least 300 kilograms of hydrogen a day from the station. At least half of that is for heavy vehicles: trucks over 3.5 tonnes and buses over 5 tonnes.
• Hydrogen. Renewable hydrogen, blue hydrogen (made from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage), hydrogen made from certified green gas, or hydrogen from the chlor-alkali process with certified renewable electricity. By 31 December 2035 at the latest, the station operator supplies only renewable hydrogen. You show that hydrogen is renewable with certificates for renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO certificates).
• Planning. The project is finished within 36 months after the grant. When a delay is outside the control of the partners, RVO can extend this period, up to 48 months after the grant.
• One application per location. In each round, RVO handles one application per station location: the first one submitted for that location. The postcode sets the location (Articles 2.1.1 and 2.1.10, and RVO, 2026).

How RVO ranks the applications

SWIM is a tender. After the round closes, RVO scores every application and grants subsidy in the order of the scores, until the budget is used. Information that you add on your own initiative after the closing time stays outside the assessment, so your file is complete when you submit it. RVO decides within 13 weeks after the round closes.

Priority near cities. The regulation has a list of municipalities (Annex 1). Each one is an urban node under the EU rules, or has a zero-emission zone for vans and trucks or has announced one, and each one still needs a public station that meets the SWIM rules. A public station in such a municipality, or up to 10 kilometres by road from its border, gets priority over applications for stations elsewhere (Article 2.1.8). This priority goes to the application with the highest score for a station in that municipality (RVO, 2026).

Vehicles at an existing station. When the station operator in the partnership already has a station, or has started building it, the application can be about the vehicles alone. RVO scores the subsidy percentage you ask for against the maximum percentage: a lower percentage gives more points, up to 100. The station meets the same conditions for capacity, fuelling points, heavy road transport and daily use, and the application includes its environment and planning permit.

The 2026 round and the next rounds

In 2026, the budget of €45 million is enough for 4 new hydrogen refuelling stations and about 200 hydrogen vehicles. Almost the full budget is used (RVO, October 2026).

The Netherlands aims for a hydrogen refuelling station in 26 urban nodes by 2030. With the 2026 round, 16 urban nodes have a station or will get one with SWIM support, so 10 more stations are needed for this goal (RVO, October 2026). Under the EU rules for alternative fuel infrastructure (AFIR), which apply since 13 April 2024, EU countries have a duty to encourage the use of fuels other than fossil fuels in infrastructure and transport.

All times are Dutch time. When one of the two budgets is too small for all eligible applications, the unused money of the other budget is added to it (Article 2.1.7). The ministry can change the rules before a round, as it did for 2026. Before the 2027 round, we check its rules for your project.

After the grant: payments and duties

• First advance. 50% of the subsidy, with the grant decision. The lead partner passes it on to the other partners, according to the cost split in the decision.
• Second advance. A further 25% on request, when at least 75% of the heavy vehicles are bought and their number plates are sent to RVO.
• The rest. After the final assessment (in Dutch: vaststelling). You request it within 13 weeks after the end of the project. RVO checks the number plates of all vehicles with the Netherlands Vehicle Authority (RDW).
• Every year. A progress report. Changes to the project with financial effects, to its duration or to the partnership need the approval of RVO in advance (RVO, 2026).
• 48 months. A new vehicle is registered in the Netherlands from its first day on the road, and stays in the name of the partner that received its subsidy for 48 months. With operational lease, the leasing company can put the vehicle in the name of its customer, with a registration in its own name in the vehicle register. In Dutch, this is a verstrekkingsvoorbehoud (RVO, 2026). A partner keeps a retrofitted vehicle, and logistics equipment, in its ownership for 48 months after the contract for the retrofit or the purchase (Article 2.1.12).
• Repayment. When a vehicle is sold or lost within these 48 months, RVO can reduce the subsidy by 1/48 of the subsidy granted for each full month that is left (Article 2.1.15). RVO gives the example of a vehicle sold after 3 years: the partner concerned repays a quarter. When you replace the vehicle with one that meets the same rules, bought outside the subsidy and registered for the remaining months, the subsidy stays the same (RVO, 2026).
• Proof of costs. A partner that applies for more than €125,000 of subsidy sends invoices and proofs of payment, and explains each cost that differs 10% or more from the budget.
• Hydrogen supply. The station operator shows the current hydrogen supply contract and, for a station already in operation, the supply contracts of the last 12 months of the project.

All contact with RVO goes through the lead partner, also for the duties after the grant.

What to prepare before the 2027 round

1. The Dutch registrations. A Dutch company or a registered Dutch branch for each partner from abroad, with its KVK number and a business location in the Netherlands.
2. eHerkenning. The lead partner applies online at RVO with eHerkenning, the Dutch login for companies. For a director abroad, see eHerkenning for a foreign director.
3. Quotes. Quotes for the vehicles, made for this application and less than six months old, with exactly the vehicles in your application. Add proof of the price of a similar vehicle on fossil fuel, also less than six months old.
4. The station file. The costs of the station, a quote that shows its daily capacity, the environment and planning permit or the application for it, and a calculation of the hydrogen use of the new vehicles.
5. Your own share. Proof that you can pay your own share of the costs, for example recent annual accounts, or a final commitment for a loan or an investment (RVO, 2026).
6. The project plan. Your application shows that the project can be finished within 36 months after the grant (Article 2.1.10). RVO has a model project plan for SWIM.
7. The order of steps. Apply first. Sign binding orders, register vehicles and start building after you submit the application.

Other subsidies. Other subsidies for the same costs are possible, and RVO deducts them from the SWIM subsidy. From 2026, you choose for these investments: SWIM subsidy, or the Dutch tax benefits for environmental investments (MIA and Vamil) (RVO, 2026).

How we help a company from abroad

We organise the application. A specialist from our network writes the technical part. You decide at each step, and RVO decides on the subsidy.

The fee. Most of the fee is a success fee, linked to the grant. Your written proposal shows the fee in advance, so you decide with every amount in view.

1. Free first advice. You describe your role in the project: station operator, transport company, leasing company or supplier, and your plans in the Netherlands.
2. Your Dutch company. We set it up and register it with the KVK, so it is ready for the 2027 round.
3. Project check. With the specialist, we look at the station, the vehicles and the points.
4. Written proposal. The work and the fee, before you decide.
5. Application. The specialist writes the technical part, we collect the documents, and the lead partner submits before 11 May 2027, 17:00.
6. After the grant. The bookkeeping, the reports and the final assessment, until the end of the duties.

For hydrogen production and other energy projects: subsidies for energy and industry projects in the Netherlands. Hydrogen imports and equipment sales: hydrogen companies in the Netherlands.

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Sources

• Tijdelijke subsidieregeling zero-emissie mobiliteit, paragraph 2.1 Waterstof in mobiliteit, Articles 1.3 and 2.1.1 to 2.1.15 (version in force from 3 June 2026, read on 22 October 2026, in Dutch)
• Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Subsidieregeling Waterstof in mobiliteit (SWIM) (page checked on 27 August 2026, in Dutch)
• RVO, changes to SWIM in 2026 (page checked on 11 February 2026, in Dutch)
• RVO, frequently asked questions about SWIM (page checked on 27 March 2026, in Dutch)
• RVO, the hydrogen network for road transport grows with SWIM, and SWIM in 2027 (page checked on 12 October 2026, in Dutch)
• RVO, model project plan for SWIM 2026 (in Dutch)
• Staatscourant 2026, 2666: the changes to SWIM for 2026, with Annex 1, the municipalities with priority (30 January 2026, in Dutch)
• Staatscourant 2026, 17287: mobile hydrogen storage on heavier trailers (12 May 2026, in Dutch)
• Business.gov.nl, Subsidy for hydrogen in mobility (SWIM) (2026)
• Ondernemersplein (RVO), applying for eHerkenning, the login for subsidies at RVO (in Dutch)

Last reviewed: 22 October 2026.