Regulation
Where combustion engines are restricted on European waters
37 rules across 5 countries, each cited to the statute or ordinance that imposes it. The ban is rarely the interesting part: what an electric boat is allowed to do alongside it decides whether the water is worth anything.
Secondary sources agree that the Alps are full of lakes where petrol is banned. They are right, and it tells you almost nothing. A lake that bans combustion engines and caps electric drives at 500 W is legally electric-only and commercially empty, because 500 W is a trolling motor. The waters that put a chargeable boat on the water are the ones that ration combustion while leaving electric propulsion alone, plus the one city that has mandated emission-free propulsion outright.
Read the demand column first
The combustion rule and the electric allowance are two separate questions, and the answer to the first does not imply the answer to the second. Every row below reports both. The demand column is our reading of the two together: an editorial judgement about a commercial question, not a legal conclusion, and the only column on this page that is.
How to read the power caps
Three ceilings recur across these regulations, and secondary sources conflate them constantly. The most common error by far is reporting a raft rule as though it applied to boats.
| Cap | Applies to | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 100 W | Schwimmkoerper: rafts, floats and boards | Not a boat rule at all. Salzburg is the worst offender: the 100 W figure quoted everywhere applies only to rafts, and electric vessels there have no cap. |
| 500 W | Rental craft, and small lakes generally | A trolling motor. No boat that needs a charger can operate under this ceiling. |
| 4.4 kW | The Austrian licensing threshold | Above it a boat needs registration, a licence and tax. This is the line separating a dinghy from a boat somebody would charge. |
Where the law creates demand for charging
Ranked by regulatory demand, not by lake size, and not derived from the tables below. This is our judgement, and each entry says what it rests on.
- 1
Amsterdam centrumgebied (within and including the Singelgracht) (Netherlands)
The only rule in this set that requires emission-free propulsion rather than prohibiting the alternative, and it covers an entire city centre rather than a single lake. It is also the only one whose demand is proven rather than inferred: the municipality is installing charge points because of it.
- 2
Vierwaldstaettersee (Switzerland)
A capped 8,000-boat combustion fleet on a 114 km2 lake, with electric outside the cap entirely. The largest regulated electric-favouring fleet in the Alps by an order of magnitude, and not one charging point anywhere on it.
- 3
Woerthersee (Austria)
500 private licences for electric boats over 4.4 kW, the largest such register in Austria, against one thinly evidenced charging point in the whole country.
- 4
Salzburg lakes listed in Anlage 1 Z 5 Schifffahrtsgesetz (Austria)
A total combustion ban with no electric power cap, which is the most favourable regulatory setting for electric boats anywhere in the Alps.
- 5
Mondsee (Austria)
A year-round combustion ban with electric uncapped, on a lake with an established boating trade.
- 6
Bodensee (Germany)
Not a ban but a strong regulated advantage, a 2040 emission-free commitment among the three riparian countries, and roughly 38,000 combustion craft in use today.
- 7
Altausseersee (Austria)
Combustion banned with no electric cap at all. Grundlsee and Altausseersee are the two that carry a fleet.
- 8
Hallwilersee (Switzerland)
600 combustion berths capped across two cantons, with electric uncapped and tax-favoured. Small boats only, under a 7.5 m ceiling.
- 9
Caldonazzo (Italy)
Combustion capped at 3 kW and electric uncapped, on the province's own reading of its own law. Read the note on that row before acting on this one.
- 10
Sempachersee (Switzerland)
400 combustion berths, a 70 kW ceiling and a waiting list, with electric uncapped. Resident fleet only: no visiting machine-driven craft.
Netherlands
One entry, and the strongest on the page. Amsterdam is the only jurisdiction here that requires emission-free propulsion rather than prohibiting the alternative, and the only one whose rule has already produced charging infrastructure: the municipality is installing the points itself.
| Water | Combustion | Electric | Charging demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam centrumgebied (within and including the Singelgracht)Noord-HollandBesluit uitstootvrije zone pleziervaart centrumgebied Amsterdam 2025, art. 2.1.9 Verordening op het binnenwater 2010 SourceStatute read directly | Emission-free zone | No cap | Yes |
| In force since 1 April 2025. Pleasure craft in the centre may use electricity, hydrogen or muscle power only, and hybrids are allowed provided they run emission-free inside the zone. Through-routes are excluded, including the Amstel and Kostverlorenvaart corridors and the Eastern and Western Islands. Vessels holding a transit vignette bought before 1 April 2025 have until 1 January 2028, and harbour-fee vignette holders and registered heritage vessels until 1 January 2030. The city publishes the boundary as a polygon carrying no attributes at all, so it proves where the zone is and nothing else: the dates above come from the Besluit. | |||
Switzerland
Switzerland does not prohibit. It rations, by capping the number of berths issued to combustion vessels, and electric boats sit outside the cap. That is a stronger commercial signal than a ban, not a weaker one: a Tyrolean ban lake produces 500 W dinghies, while a Swiss quota lake produces a waiting list of people who want a real motorboat, cannot have a combustion one, and can register an electric one tomorrow.
| Water | Combustion | Electric | Charging demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| VierwaldstaetterseeLU, UR, SZ, OW, NWInterkantonale Vereinbarung vom 20. Juni 1997, Art. 5 und Art. 7 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | Yes |
| 8,000 berths for combustion vessels under a hard statutory cap across five cantons: Luzern 3,287, Nidwalden 2,292, Schwyz 1,340, Uri 578, Obwalden 503. Electric vessels fall outside the cap and need no additional endorsement, though every vessel still needs an authorised berth. The advantage is skipping the combustion waiting list, not mooring anywhere. | |||
| SempacherseeLULU SRL 787, §27, §28 und §34 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | Partly |
| 400 boats under a hard cap, and combustion over 70 kW is not admitted at all. Electric is uncapped, but no machine-driven vessel may use the lake without a berth on it, so there is no visiting trade and the demand is a resident fleet. | |||
| HallwilerseeAG, LUAG EG BSG 997.100 §4 und §5; LU SRL 787 §35 und §36 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | Yes |
| 600 combustion berths capped across two cantons, 480 in Aargau and 120 in Lucerne, with combustion barred outright without one. Electric is uncapped and pays no power surcharge on the cantonal boat tax. Note the ceiling: no vessel over 7.5 m or 2.5 m in the beam, and an electric motor on a sailing boat does count against the sail quota. | |||
| ZugerseeAlso covers: AegeriseeZG, SZ, LUZG BGS 753.1, §7 SourceStatute read directly | No engine-type rule | No cap | No |
| ZuerichseeAlso covers: Obersee, WalenseeZH, SZ, GL, SGZH Schifffahrtsverordnung 747.11 SourceStatute read directly | No engine-type rule | No cap | No |
| The instructive negative. No combustion cap, a large motorboat fleet, and a domestic electric boatbuilder in Boesch, which has built roughly 60 electric boats since 2005, about a fifth of its production. None of them stayed on the lake; all were exported, and the builder cites price and the absence of charging. Regulation is not the binding constraint here. Infrastructure is. | |||
| ThunerseeAlso covers: Brienzersee, BielerseeBENo engine-type restriction in force SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | No engine-type rule | No cap | No |
| Lac LemanVD, VS, GENo engine-type rule; berths scarce but fuel-neutral SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | No engine-type rule | No cap | No |
| Lago MaggioreAlso covers: Lago di LuganoTIItalo-Swiss conventions; 150 m inner shore zone SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | No engine-type rule | No cap | No |
| LauerzerseeAlso covers: Sihlsee, WaegitalerseeSZKanton Schwyz, Einschraenkungen der Schifffahrt SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | Power capped | 6 kW | No |
| Read the sentence carefully: it says Motoren, not Verbrennungsmotoren. Three lakes that look like combustion bans in a secondary source are 6 kW caps on electric drives as well. Sihlsee additionally bars any vessel without a Schwyz plate. | |||
| GreifenseeAlso covers: Pfaeffikersee, TuerlerseeZHZH Schifffahrtsverordnung 747.11, §33 und §34 SourceStatute read directly | Power capped | Not permitted | No |
| Machine-driven craft need a permit that is not granted to private pleasure boats, and the requirement covers electric drive too. No vessel over 7.5 m. | |||
Austria
The only country here legislated lake by lake and published in full. Nine Laender, five relevant regulations, and both the best and the worst rows on this page.
| Water | Combustion | Electric | Charging demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| MondseeOberoesterreichOoe. Seen-Verkehrsverordnung 2005, LGBl 68/2005 idF 26/2022, §2 Z8 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | No cap | Yes |
| The strongest single case in Austria: petrol out year round, electric unlimited. | |||
| AtterseeOberoesterreichOoe. Seen-Verkehrsverordnung 2005, LGBl 68/2005 idF 26/2022, §2 Z7 und §3 SourceStatute read directly | Banned seasonally | No cap | Partly |
| An absolute ban from 1 July to 31 August and nightly from 21:00 to 07:00, so for two months a year electric is the only legal propulsion. The commercial fleet is capped at 30. Rental craft are capped at 500 W; private vessels are not. | |||
| TraunseeOberoesterreichOoe. Seen-Verkehrsverordnung 2005, LGBl 68/2005 idF 26/2022, §2 Z7 und §3 SourceStatute read directly | Banned seasonally | No cap | Partly |
| Aber- oder Wolfgangsee (Ooe. portion)OberoesterreichOoe. Wolfgangsee-Verordnung 1995, LGBl 68/1995 idF 146/2020, §2 Z1 und §3 SourceStatute read directly | Outboards banned | No cap | Yes |
| Combustion outboards are banned year round. Inboards are banned from 1 July to 31 August and on Sundays and public holidays in May, June and September, with a night ban from 21:00 to 07:00. The 100 W figure in the same regulation applies to rafts, not to vessels. | |||
| HallstaetterseeOberoesterreichOoe. Seen-Verkehrsverordnung 2005, LGBl 68/2005 idF 26/2022, §6(2) SourceStatute read directly | Banned | 1 kW | No |
| AlmseeAlso covers: Gleinker See, Grosser Oedensee, Heratinger See, Hinterer Gosausee, Hinterer Langbathsee, Hoellerersee, Holzoesterer See, Kleiner Oedensee, Laudachsee, Nussensee, Offensee, Schwarzensee, Seeleithensee, Vorderer Gosausee, Vorderer Langbathsee, Zeller- oder IrrseeOberoesterreichOoe. Seen-Verkehrsverordnung 2005, LGBl 68/2005 idF 26/2022, §6(1) SourceStatute read directly | Banned | 500 W | No |
| Salzburg lakes listed in Anlage 1 Z 5 SchifffahrtsgesetzSalzburgLGBl (Sbg) Nr 78/2016 idF 75/2021, §2 Z1a, Z1b, Z2 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | No cap | Yes |
| Combustion outboards and inboards are both banned, as are electric drives whose energy is generated on board by a combustion engine. The 100 W cap applies only to rafts. Note the caveat: the exact lake list lives in Anlage 1 Z 5 of the federal Schifffahrtsgesetz, which we have not read, so treat the group as sourced and the individual lake names as not. | |||
| Zeller SeeSalzburgLGBl (Sbg) Nr 75/2016 idF 73/2021, §2 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | No cap | Yes |
| WoertherseeKaerntenK-RSS, LGBl Nr 53/2016 idF 67/2021, §3 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | Yes |
| Correcting a claim repeated by tourism and boating-school pages: combustion is not banned here. It is capped, at 53 commercial and 335 private inboard four-stroke vessels, with rental combustion banned. What makes this the strongest Austrian row is the other register: 500 licences for private electric boats over 4.4 kW, the largest in the country. | |||
| Ossiacher SeeKaerntenK-RSS, LGBl Nr 53/2016 idF 67/2021, §4 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | Partly |
| Millstaetter SeeKaerntenK-RSS, LGBl Nr 53/2016 idF 67/2021, §5 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | Partly |
| WeissenseeAlso covers: Faaker SeeKaerntenK-RSS, LGBl Nr 53/2016 idF 67/2021, §6 und §7 SourceStatute read directly | Capped by quota | No cap | No |
| Concession and professional fishing only, so private combustion is effectively barred. The private electric quota on the Weissensee is explicitly zero, which is why neither lake is a charging opportunity. | |||
| DraustauseenKaerntenK-RSS, LGBl Nr 53/2016 idF 67/2021, §8 SourceStatute read directly | Power capped | 12 kW | Marginal |
| Afritzer SeeAlso covers: Feldsee (Brennsee)KaerntenK-RSS, LGBl Nr 53/2016 idF 67/2021, §9 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | 2.5 kW | No |
| AchenseeTirolLGBl (Tir) Nr 56/1998 idF 54/2022, §1 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | 2.2 kW | No |
| BlindseeAlso covers: Brennersee, Egelsee, Fernsteinsee, Frauensee, Haldensee, Hechtsee, Heiterwanger See, Herzsee, Laengsee, Lanser See, Mittersee, Moeserer See, Natterer See, Obernberger See, Pfrillsee, Piburger See, Pillersee, Plansee, Reintaler See, Schwarzsee, Thiersee, Traualpsee, Tristacher See, Urisee, Vilsalpsee, Walchsee, Weissensee, Wildmoossee, Wildsee (Seefelder See)TirolLGBl (Tir) Nr 56/1998 idF 54/2022, §1 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | 500 W | No |
| The trap this page exists for. Thirty lakes here plus the Achensee, all under an absolute combustion ban, and not one of them creates any charging demand: the second half of the same sentence caps electric propulsion at 500 W. Anyone building a case on lakes where petrol is banned will overcount Austria badly here. | |||
| AltausseerseeAlso covers: Giglachseen, Grundlsee, Leopoldsteinersee, Oedensee, Putterersee, Roecksee, Schwarzensee, Toplitzsee, Waldschacher Teich, Packer Stausee, Erlaufsee (Styrian part), Turrachsee (Styrian part), Soboth-Stausee (Styrian part)SteiermarkLGBl (Stmk) Nr 117/1999, §1(1) SourceStatute read directly | Banned | No cap | Yes |
| Combustion is banned, with exceptions for rescue, police, commercial shipping and professional fishing, and the regulation sets no electric power limit at all. Grundlsee and Altausseersee are the notable ones. | |||
Germany
Regulated advantage rather than prohibition. No German water on this list bans combustion outright, and two of them are still among the strongest signals in the set.
| Water | Combustion | Electric | Charging demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| BodenseeDE, AT, CHBodensee-Schifffahrts-Ordnung, Anlage C SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | Power capped | No cap | Yes |
| Not a ban, and still one of the strongest signals here. The Bodensee-Schifffahrts-Ordnung imposes the strictest sport-boat exhaust limits in Europe, with mandatory periodic emissions maintenance, and combustion craft must stay 300 m off shore. Electric craft are exempt from those limits entirely and may operate inside the 300 m zone up to 2 kW. Roughly 38,000 combustion craft are in use, and the three riparian countries have committed to emission-free navigation by 2040. | |||
| Starnberger SeeBayernBayerische Genehmigungspraxis, 255 private Verbrennerlizenzen SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | Capped by quota | No cap | Yes |
| Combustion permits are capped at 255 private licences, granted for a maximum of five years and not renewable, with a reported waiting time of around 12 years. Electric permits are issued indefinitely and are not restricted to the lake. | |||
| AmmerseeBayernBayerische Genehmigungspraxis, Kontingent wie Starnberger See SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | Capped by quota | No cap | Yes |
| Other Bavarian lakesBayernKein Gemeingebrauch fuer Sportmotorboote; Genehmigung erforderlich SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | Capped by quota | No cap | Partly |
| Sport motorboat use is not covered by Gemeingebrauch and needs authorisation. Combustion permits are effectively granted only on the Starnberger See and the Ammersee, while electric permits are indefinite and not lake-restricted. | |||
| KoenigsseeBayernGoverning instrument not located SourceGoverning instrument not located | Banned | No cap | No |
| The commercial passenger fleet has been electric since 1909, inside Nationalpark Berchtesgaden, and is widely described as the oldest electric shipping operation in the world. It is a single operator charging at its own depot, which this map excludes. We could not locate the governing instrument, and the row is published as unsourced rather than quietly dropped. | |||
Italy
Read the Trentino rows carefully. The province bans combustion on its large lakes and permits electric, but the sentence that does it says motori, and the reading below is the province's own.
| Water | Combustion | Electric | Charging demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lago di Garda (Trentino waters)TrentinoLegge provinciale (Trento) 15 novembre 2001, n. 9, art. 14 comma 3 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | Not permitted | No |
| Not a combustion ban but a motor ban: art. 14 comma 3 prohibits navigation by unita a motore, electric included, with exceptions for public service, rescue, scheduled transport and authorised race committees. The northern tip of Garda is closed to private motor craft of any kind. | |||
| CaldonazzoAlso covers: Levico, Ledro, MolvenoTrentinoLegge provinciale (Trento) 15 novembre 2001, n. 9, art. 33 comma 1 SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | Power capped | No cap | Yes |
| The exception in art. 33 reads motori di potenza non superiore a 3 kW, motors in general, which on its face would cap electric at 3 kW too and make Trentino a second Tirol. The province's own authorisation service resolves it the other way, describing the threshold as a heat engine. Two things inside the same law support that reading: the prohibiting half of the sentence says motore a combustione interna explicitly, and art. 32 comma 1b grants electric drives 10 kW where combustion gets 6 kW. Recorded on the province's reading, and this is the row to revisit if an ispettore di porto ever contradicts it. | |||
| Trentino provincial lakes under 1 km2TrentinoLegge provinciale (Trento) 15 novembre 2001, n. 9, art. 33 comma 1 SourceStatute read directly | Banned | No cap | No |
| Yes in law, no in practice. These are ponds. | |||
| Lago di Garda (Lombardy and Veneto waters)Also covers: Lago di Como, Lago Maggiore, Lago d'IseoLombardia, VenetoOrdinanza del Presidente della Giunta Regionale n. 58600/1997, come modificata dall'ordinanza n. 1 del 7 agosto 2009 SourceGovernment portal, not the statute | No engine-type rule | No cap | No |
| No ban and no cap: the only power threshold is the national licence line at 30 kW. Within 50 m of the bank, craft with an electric motor not over 3 HP may navigate below 5 knots, which is a shore-zone privilege and not a demand signal. This matters because it is the opposite of the intuition: the Italian lakes that already carry charging infrastructure are not ban lakes, and their charging exists for commercial reasons. | |||
The waters that look like opportunities and are not
Every one of these appears on somebody's list of lakes where petrol is banned. Not one of them can support a boat that needs charging, and the reason is always in the second half of the sentence.
- Blindseealso covers 29Banned, 500 W
- AchenseeBanned, 2.2 kW
- Almseealso covers 16Banned, 500 W
- HallstaetterseeBanned, 1 kW
- Weissenseealso covers 1Capped by quota, No cap
- Lauerzerseealso covers 2Power capped, 6 kW
- Greifenseealso covers 2Power capped, Not permitted
- Lago di Garda (Trentino waters)Banned, Not permitted
- Lago di Garda (Lombardy and Veneto waters)also covers 3No engine-type rule, No cap
What this covers, and what it does not
Complete for Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, compiled from the consolidated statutes in the Austrian RIS, the cantonal Systematische Rechtssammlungen, the two intercantonal agreements and the Trentino provincial law. The Netherlands is represented by Amsterdam alone. France, the Nordics and the rest of the Netherlands were not surveyed, so their absence here is our gap and not a finding.
Two gaps are named rather than smoothed over. The South Tyrolean navigation instrument was not retrieved; it cannot change the ranking, because no lake there carries a berthed motorboat fleet. And the Salzburg lake list lives in an annex to the federal Schifffahrtsgesetz that we have not read, so the group is sourced and the individual lake names are not.