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HS Codes / Chapter 87: Vehicles other than railway / 870380
870380 Chapter 87 · Vehicles

Electric vehicles (battery)

Six-digit subheading in Vehicles, chapter 87 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.

Anatomy of 870380

Chapter
87
Vehicles other than railway
Heading
87.03
Product group
Subheading
87.03.80
Specific product

You will declare against a longer local code that begins 870380: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 5 rates below differ on.

What this code covers

HS code 870380 covers electric vehicles (battery) under Chapter 87 (vehicles other than railway). Across the 5 destinations priced here the duty runs from 2.5% to 10%, and Germany, Portugal and United Kingdom are the dearest. Destination tax is charged on top, on the customs value plus any duty, and runs from 0% to 23% across these markets, highest in Portugal, with none at the border in United States. All 5 rates below have been read from the tariff schedule of the market that charges them.

Import duty by country

MFN duty rate · 5 countries
Country Duty VAT Notes
🇨🇦Canada 6.1% 5% 6.1% + 5% GST. The 100% surtax on Chinese EVs was repealed on 1 March 2026 and replaced by an import permit against an annual quota, charged at the 6.1% MFN rate.
🇩🇪Germany 10% 19% EU 10% MFN on passenger cars + 19% VAT. Chinese built EVs carry countervailing duties of 7.8% to 35.3% on top, unless the producer holds a price undertaking accepted by the Commission.
🇵🇹Portugal 10% 23% EU 10% MFN on passenger cars + 23% IVA. The same 7.8% to 35.3% countervailing duties on Chinese built EVs apply.
🇬🇧United Kingdom 10% 20% 10% duty + 20% VAT. No UK VAT on EV purchase credit.
🇺🇸United States 2.5% 0% 2.5% MFN; Chinese EVs now 100% under Section 301.

Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.

What that costs: 870380 into Portugal

An illustrative consignment of 870380 invoiced at EUR 2,000.00, priced in EUR because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.

Goods value on the invoice EUR 2,000.00
International freight EUR 120.00
Cargo insurance EUR 30.00
Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis EUR 2,150.00
Duty at 10% EUR 215.00
Portugal tax at 23%, charged on the value plus the duty EUR 543.95
Total, before commercial charges EUR 2,908.95

And if the consignment were small

Portugal relieves nothing: the relief was abolished, so the duty above is charged whatever the consignment is worth. A smaller shipment pays less because the value is lower, not because a threshold spared it.

Selling rather than buying? EUR 2,908.95 is what your buyer in Portugal pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Portugal sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.

An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 870380 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.

How these rates were verified

Rates last verified 31 August 2026

Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.

🇨🇦CA
MFN for 870380 CA, read on 2026-08-31 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch87-eng.html and again on 2026-09-01 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned 6.1%. The Canada Border Services Agency is the only body that publishes this schedule. The Department of Justice publishes the Act and refers readers to the Agency for the schedule itself, so both readings are the Agency's, taken from two different products. Retrieved text: 8703.80.00 6.1%
🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 870380 DE, read on 2026-08-31 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/8703801010 and again on 2026-09-01 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=870380&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 10%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8703801010 10.00 %; 8703801090 10.00 %; 8703809000 10.00 %
🇬🇧GB
UK Trade Tariff, third country duty for commodity 8703801010, read by hand from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8703801010 with the date of trade set to 31 August 2026. Legal base S.I. 2020/1430. The 6.5% shown here until 31 August 2026 was the DCTS Standard Preferences rate, a different measure printed on the same page.
🇺🇸US
HTS General for 870380 US, read on 2026-08-31 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8703.80 and again on 2026-09-01 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=87&to=88&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 2.5%. The United States International Trade Commission is the only body that publishes this schedule. The second reading was taken in a different format to check the reading, not to corroborate the schedule, because there is no second schedule to corroborate it against. Retrieved text: 8703.80.00 2.5%

Markets with no figure recorded

Australia: Australia splits 8703.80 into 5 tariff lines and they do not carry the same rate: the schedule returned 0 to 5%. A single percentage cannot represent that honestly, so no Australia figure is recorded and the calculator falls back to its disclosed category average.

Re-check first: The United Kingdom figure was corrected on 31 August 2026. The rate that applies to an importer with no trade preference is 10.00%, set by S.I. 2020/1430, alongside the 20% standard VAT rate. Both were read by hand from the UK Trade Tariff entry for commodity 8703801010. Until that date this page showed 6.5%, which is a real rate printed on the same official page but a different one: it is the reduced rate for countries in the UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme, and it does not apply to a general commercial import. Every figure on this site now records which of those measures it is, so the two can no longer be confused. The German, Portuguese and United States figures on this page have not been traced to a named official database and remain unconfirmed.

What falls under 870380

  • Passenger cars powered solely by one or more electric motors (battery electric vehicles)
  • BEVs regardless of battery chemistry, for transport of persons

What's specifically excluded

These look similar but belong under a different code:

  • 870340: Hybrid vehicles combining a spark-ignition engine with an electric motor
  • 870360: Plug-in hybrids with a spark-ignition engine
  • 871160: Electric motorcycles and e-scooters with a saddle

Commonly confused with

870340: Petrol hybrid (HEV)
If the vehicle has any internal-combustion engine it is a hybrid (8703 40/50/60/70), not a pure EV. 870380 is battery-only.

850760: Lithium-ion battery packs
An EV battery imported on its own is a battery (8507 60), not a vehicle.

Classification & cost note

This is the single most politically volatile code on the site in 2026. Headline MFN rates (10% EU, 10% UK, 2.5% US, 0% on many FTAs) are routinely overridden by countervailing and safeguard tariffs targeting specific origins. The EU's CVD measures and elevated US rates on Chinese-origin EVs can multiply the effective duty. Never quote a buyer an EV landed cost from the MFN rate alone; check current trade-remedy measures for the exact origin.

Typical products: Battery-electric passenger cars · Electric SUVs and crossovers · Electric vans built for passenger transport

What the notes to section XVII say

Chapter 87 sits in section XVII, vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the 5 reaching chapter 87 name no heading this site holds a code under, and they are quoted whole on the chapter 87 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/17 on 2026-09-08.

What the nomenclature says about heading 8703

870380 is a subheading of 8703, motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons (other than those of heading 8702), including station wagons and racing cars , and this site holds 5 other codes under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.

One numbered note to chapter 87 takes heading 8703 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.

Note 3 to chapter 87

Motor chassis fitted with cabs fall in heading 8702 to 8704, and not in heading 8706.

Read from the notes to chapter 87 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/87, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/8703, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 87 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.

Questions about 870380

What is the import duty on an electric car?

Base MFN rates are roughly 10% (EU/UK), 2.5% (US) and 5% (many others), but 2026 trade-remedy tariffs on certain origins, notably China, can add substantial extra duty. Verify the origin-specific rate before relying on any figure.

Is a hybrid classified as 870380?

No. 870380 is battery-electric only. Any vehicle with a combustion engine is a hybrid and uses 870340/50/60/70 depending on engine and plug-in capability.

Related codes in Chapter 87

Calculate duty for HS 870380

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In this chapter

Chapter 87: Vehicles other than railway

View all chapter 87 codes →