Ding Dong, the EV Tax Credit Is Dead

As of yesterday, your tax dollars no longer subsidize the purchase of an electric vehicle. As my girlfriend Leslie Eastman over at Legal Insurrection put it:

Green energy cultists are about ready to get hit with a dose of reality.

The Electric Vehicle (EV) market has long been supported by hope, skilled marketing, and a $7500 tax credit that disappears on October 1.

She's entirely correct.

A green fever dream that has only existed thanks to the largesse of the climate cult members and the grifters in government making bank off of each successive wave of handouts and mandates is collapsing like the flimsy Ponzi scheme it always was.

There was a rush to take advantage of the pot o' gold while it was still there, which is going to skew the numbers and dawning hard truths for a while.

The Republican tax and spending package that passed in early July brought an early end to federal EV tax credits, which are worth up to $7,500 for new electric vehicles and up to $4,000 for used ones. The credits end on September 30. Specifically, buyers need to have a binding contract in place by that time — the vehicle itself can be delivered later.

Anybody who was thinking of getting an EV soon-ish suddenly had a four-figure incentive to get one fast.

The result was pretty predictable: Sales of EVs shot up.

"The past couple of weeks — even in the past several days — EV sales just exploded," says Matt Jones, the senior director of industry relations at the auto marketplace TrueCar. "It's been bonkers."

What was it Mr. T used to say? They were even buying used ones.

I PITY THE FOOL

...Used EVs are also selling quickly, and Cars Commerce, the company behind Cars.com, reports that vehicles under $25,000 — the ones that are potentially eligible for the used vehicle tax credit — are the fastest-selling EVs on the used market.

Just out from Bloomberg this morning is Tesla's 'surprise gain,' although I'm not really sure how much of a surprise it should be, all things considered.

Were I in the market for a quality EV with a healthy discount that had a deadline, that's where I'd look first.

Tesla Inc. reported a surprise increase in quarterly vehicle sales as US consumers accelerated electric-car purchases before federal tax credits expired.

The company delivered a record 497,099 vehicles worldwide during the period, up 7.4% from a year ago. That compares with the roughly 439,600 average projection compiled by Bloomberg.

...Investors recently have looked past the sales weakness to Musk’s promises of growth in areas such as driverless vehicles, artificial intelligence and robotics. Tesla’s stock soared 33% in September, recouping early-year losses with its best monthly performance of 2025.

Automakers - the Detroit behemoths in particular - are bracing for the post-subsidy reality check, when the government incentive money falls away. They are feeling gloomy at the moment, knowing a plunge in sales is coming. Worryingly, dealers are overstocked with vehicles they were unable to convince a buying public to purchase, even when there had been generous incentive money available meant to entice consumers into making the transition.

Automotive executives are bracing for a freefall in U.S. electric-vehicle sales following the disappearance of a critical $7,500 tax break for buyers.

"It's a game-changer," Ford (F.N), opens new tab CEO Jim Farley said during a Detroit event on Tuesday, just hours before the federal subsidy expired.

Farley said he would not be surprised if electric-car sales drop to 5% of total U.S. vehicle sales next month. That would be about half the level from August – a monthly record as consumers hurried to take advantage of the credit – and among the lowest levels in several years.

“The EV market is going to collapse in October,” said Christian Meunier, chairman of Nissan Americas. Japan's Nissan (7201.T), opens new tab is still rolling out a redesigned version of its Nissan Leaf small EV in the U.S., but Meunier expects tough competition as rival automakers strain to find buyers for their electric cars.

“That competition is going to be super-brutal, because there is a lot of stock. Our competitors have built a lot of EVs,” Meunier told Reuters in an interview Tuesday.

Now, EVs are going to have to stand on their own appeal and reputation, and if there are incentives, they will have to come from automakers. 

For example, Ford and GM are already trying to work out a program where the corporation extends the tax credit by purchasing EVs from existing dealer stock, but which only makes them available as leased vehicles. It's convoluted, but at this stage, I guess anything helps.

Today, September 30, 2025, is the last day before the federal EV tax credit expires. That means people who buy or lease a new electric vehicle from the list of eligible models will no longer receive a $7500 discount. However, Ford and General Motors are working on a short-term solution that will allow customers to take advantage of the incentive for at least the next several months, though it will only be available through leasing.

Details about the programs were first reported by Reuters, which cites a combination of dealers and documents. The outlet claims that Ford and GM's finance departments will purchase EVs from dealer inventory with a down payment, making them eligible for the tax credit. Those vehicles can then be leased to customers throughout the rest of the year, with the $7500 helping reduce the cost of the lease.

There's no getting around the drawbacks EVs have in public perception.

EVs are highly impractical for most Americans.

— Helen Hotcakes (@jahoobz) October 2, 2025

Every single fire report, every untoward incident, or time they see someone lined up for a charger - or out of service chargers - convinces the average American that his little Honda or honkin' huge GN truck is the right call.

"U.S. sales across the industry are expected to plunge after Sept. 30, when a $7,500 federal tax credit for EV buyers expires." No one wants partially-functional vehicles without a subsidy. Subsidies distort markets. https://t.co/mEE0DK16Jc via @WSJ

— George Conboy (@gtconboy) September 30, 2025

As one might expect, the most die-hard climate cultists are furious at the retrenchment happening at American car companies like General Motors. But then they don't have to make a payroll or move those hunks of battery off a car lot to keep a business viable. Governors like Newsom would simply demand more tax money.

...Her [GM CEO Mary Barra] ambitious quest to command new markets and save the Earth has since stalled. GM has gone from one of the industry’s loudest EV champions to a leading opponent of government emissions rules and fuel-economy standards that for decades fueled the consumer market for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Many car companies, faced with softening EV sales and a Trump administration hostile to green-energy initiatives, have called for looser regulations. None has backtracked as quickly and dramatically as GM.

“GM sold us out. Mary Barra sold us out,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a recent news conference. He was still fuming over GM’s successful campaign to help strip the state of its authority to set clean-air regulations more strict than the rest of the nation.    

In making the shift back to what the American consumer wants and the Trump administration supports, Barra is doing something the cultists have never been forced to do and find impossible in any event - acknowledge reality.

...While GM says it remains invested in EVs, Barra has stopped referencing her own 2035 target to produce only EVs, saying instead that the transition will take decades. In a July letter to shareholders, she assured them that GM is well positioned to succeed in a market for internal-combustion engines “that now has a longer runway.” Barra is touting GM’s multibillion-dollar investments in V-8 engines, gasoline-powered pickups and SUVs, while nixing plans for factories to make EVs and the batteries to power them. 

The change is a practical move that reflects the poor performance of the once-booming EV market, according to Barra. U.S. sales across the industry are expected to plunge after Sept. 30, when a $7,500 federal tax credit for EV buyers expires.

You have to make what the customer wants, not what the government wants them to have.

...EVs are still rolling off the production lines at Factory Zero. Yet a major overhaul to convert a GM factory in Orion, Mich., to build EV trucks will instead build gas-powered ones. A New York factory set to make EV drive units will now make V8 engines.

...Barra said in May that consumer demand and a lack of charging stations nationwide has stalled the EV industry, but she believes the clean-running vehicles will one day replace gas-powered vehicles.

Even state EV subsidy programs, which ran in conjunction with the $7500 federal credit, basically only went to those who wanted one of the vehicles to begin with, particularly if they were, say, interested in the latest Tesla. A die-hard truck man was never going to be converted.

...Environmental policy skeptic Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center argues that EV subsidies are not an efficient carbon cutting policy. “The EV credit program, both at the state and federal level, has really been ineffective at reducing CO2 emissions," said Myers. “A high percentage of the money simply goes to people who are going to buy electric vehicles anyway."

Myers doubts that keeping the EV tax credits alive would help Washington achieve its environmental targets.

According to Hershkowitz, there was a surge of EV registrations in Washington from 2022 into late 2023 when they dropped off significantly. While he doesn't think the big rebates from Uncle Sam were the only factor driving the uptick, they certainly helped.

“That was really driven by Tesla bringing the Model 3 and Model Y to a mass market, bringing that price down,” he added.

FACING A PRETTY DREADFUL YEAR

Thanks to President Trump: Tomorrow is the last day of federal EV subsidies. https://t.co/xTSJu80Iz3 pic.twitter.com/hL3Nwrwmyd

— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) September 29, 2025

But at least it's at long last on their own dime, and that's how it should be.

The weak will be melted in a flood of cheaper Chinese vehicles. Or they'll fade away, taking what was left of the hundreds of billions of your tax dollars dumped into these companies into bankruptcy. 

The strong will make it out alive and be better for it.

We all will be.

Editor's Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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