It's been a whiplash year for the electric vehicle market in the U.S.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Megan McCarty Carrino.

2025 brought some new speed bumps for electric vehicle sales, namely the Republicans'

One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It cut federal EV tax credits, up to $7,500 for new cars, and

4,000 for used ones. Those incentives had been on the books in some form since 2008

and were expanded during the Biden administration. They expired at the end of September. Consumers

rushed to take advantage before they disappeared, leading to record high sales earlier this year.

But now, the market faces an uncertain road ahead.

Marketplace's Henry E.P. has been reporting on this all year. We asked him about the outlook for

EV sales now that federal tax credits are gone. So sales, maybe unsurprisingly, really fell off.

Once there was no longer this incentive for consumers.

Monthly EV sales fell by nearly 50% in October from September, and they've sort of stayed at

that level in November. This is according to Cox Automotive. One reason for this, you know,

is the end of those incentives created sort of a classic pull-forward

situation. So, you know, people who might have bought an EV, say, around now, around the

holidays or in early 2026, they did that instead in July or August when this tax credit was still

in the books.

I'm curious, how do car prices compare EVs for a long time were much, much more

expensive than gas cars without the tax credit? What is the price difference? Yeah, so again,

this is data from Cox Automotive, but the difference for new cars is over $9,000. It'll run you well over $9,000 more than a combustion engine car to

buy a new EV. On the used side, it's a little bit closer. It's more in the $2,700 range. Still,

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