Americans run up EV purchases to record in Q3 ahead of tax credit deadline

Americans bought a record 438,500 EVs in the third quarter of 2025, scrambling to secure the federal tax credits before they disappeared on September ￰0￱ number is the highest ever for a single quarter, and it made up 11% of all new car sales, beating the previous high of 8.7%, as reported by Cox ￰1￱ weren’t waiting around to lose out on thousands of dollars in savings, and dealers across the country saw a wave of last-minute ￰2￱ with the incentive window now slammed shut, analysts say EV sales could cool ￰3￱ credits, no ￰4￱ Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox, said EVs could still reach 25% of US car sales by 2030, though that’s “well short of the 50% once envisioned, but certainly moving out of the ‘niche’ category.” People want ￰5￱ tags don’t.

Tesla loses more ground as GM rises with cheaper EVs Tesla held its lead in Q3 but ￰6￱ months of shaky results, the company saw a slight sales boost. Still, it’s not the same Tesla dominance as ￰7￱ market share has dropped to 41%, a huge fall from 80% just four years ago. Meanwhile, rivals are speeding ￰8￱ Motors carved out 15% of Q3 EV sales, up from 10% a year ago, thanks to the Chevrolet Equinox, now the third best-selling EV in the ￰9￱ options are behind this move, as there are now 11 EVs priced below the average US car, and some of them are catching attention fast. GM’s Equinox starts around $35,000, and the newly launched Bolt comes in at $29,000.

That’s a big deal for families trying to escape high gas bills without wrecking their monthly ￰10￱ said nearly half of all EV purchases in the first half of the year were made without a federal tax ￰11￱ people just made it ￰12￱ Emily Almaer in Boulder, Colorado. She’s paying $250 a month for her Volkswagen ID.4, which she got in ￰13￱ husband, Dion Almaer, said, “You look at some of these monthly payments, and it’s like ‘Wait, this is like one family meal out.’” Reportedly, three of their friends also just bought EVs, choosing between Volkswagen, Nissan, and ￰14￱ are finding ways to make the switch, even without help from the ￰15￱ cut forecasts as credits end and affordability worsens Now comes the ￰16￱ tax incentives , projections for EV growth are ￰17￱ now expects EVs to account for just 27% of US car sales by 2030, down sharply from the 48% it predicted last ￰18￱ now, S&P Global thinks EVs won’t even hit 7% of Q4 ￰19￱ with prices still high, Peter Nagle, associate director at S&P, said: “The affordability issue is going to be exacerbated.

It’s really going to be a sink or swim moment.” Used EVs are seeing more interest, and carmakers are rushing to offer cheaper ￰20￱ expects at least nine new EVs under $40,000 to hit the market in the next three ￰21￱ won’t fix things overnight, but it’s part of the ￰22￱ CEO Hakan Samuelsson said his company will take a “huge step” in 2026, with longer-range and lower-cost ￰23￱ told Bloomberg, “The industry will be electric, there’s no turning ￰24￱ may take a bit longer in some regions, but the direction is clear.” Get up to $30,050 in trading rewards when you join Bybit today