New EU driving license rules: good news for electric vans and 17-year-olds

The European Parliament has voted in favor of a new driving license directive, which includes, among other things, an exception for electric vans. Due to their high weight, they would not always fall within the B driving license category, but the EP believes that electric vans up to a weight of 4,250 kilos should be allowed to be driven with a B driving license. It now remains to be seen what will happen at a national level with the temporary exemption that expired this year.

There is also good news for young people who already want to start driving. The driving license B and driving license BE must be obtained at the age of 17. Now, at the age of 17, you still need a supervisor with a supervisor’s pass, so this may no longer be necessary in the future. Not only that: the adopted EU proposal also states that 17-year-olds must be able to obtain their truck driver’s license, although you must still drive with a supervisor. Finally, there were calls for a medical examination to be carried out with every driver’s license renewal, but that has been removed from the proposal.

MEP Caroline Nagtegaal (VVD) says she is happy with the results: “I am happy that the mandatory medical examination has been abolished. The increase in the tonnage for e-vans is also positive. This means that drivers of such a bus In the long term, we will not have to obtain an additional C driving license, according to Parliament. I applaud the lowering of the minimum age to 17 years for driving a car and professionally driving a truck. It is good that we are tackling this at a European level, especially given the acute driver shortages. .”