George didn't get over-the-air updates. Photo courtesy of Majella Waterworth.
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Everyone expected the bottom to fall out of the new electric car market after the $7,500 federal incentive ended September 30, 2025, but these things have a way of evening out over time. There was a surge in EV sales before the federal incentive ended and a dramatic dropoff afterwards. That’s what’s happened before — in China, in Germany, in the Netherlands, etc. — when countries have eliminated electric car incentives. Governments wouldn’t create incentives if they had no effect on consumers.
But a strange thing is happening. EV sales in America are beginning to bounce back — not to the level they were when the federal incentive was available, but better than they were in the months just after the incentive expired. According to Kelley Blue Book estimates, 247,226 EVs were sold in the US in the second quarter of 2026 — up 14.7 percent from Q1. That’s the good news. EV sales were still off 20.5 percent from their peak in Q3 in 2025, but that is a lot better than the 35 percent drop in Q4. If you are “the glass is half full” type of person, that is reason enough to be (somewhat) optimistic about the future of EVs in America.
