American buyers are leaving electric cars for hybrids and petrol after the $7,500 federal credit ended, with 42.6% of second-quarter EV trade-ins going to a combustion car. Hybrids are already the biggest-selling powertrain in the EU at 37.3%, and the Commission has proposed keeping them legal after 2035.
Americans who bought an electric car are increasingly trading it for something with a petrol engine, InsideEVs reported on Saturday. The site called the United States an outlier for it.
Of people who traded in an EV in the second quarter, 42.6% left with a combustion car and 15.6% with a hybrid, against 34.6% who bought another EV, Edmunds found. The figures exclude Tesla, Rivian and Lucid stores, which skews them away from electric.
Cox Automotive found 22% of buyers considered a new hybrid this year, against 10% for an EV. The range on offer is narrowing too, with several models tariffed out of existence.
The cause is price. Washington’s $7,500 credit ended last September, and the average EV lease reached $707 last month, about $100 above a petrol equivalent. “$30,000 is the sweet spot for a new car in the U.S.,” said Corey Cantor of ZETA.
