Electric vehicles had a bumpy road in 2025 — and one pleasant surprise
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
2025 has been a wild ride for electric vehicles. President Trump campaigned on eliminating EV mandates and has, in fact, been undoing policies that require or encourage cleaner vehicles. EV sales soared and then they slumped, so where does that leave the auto industry? NPR's Camila Domonoske is plugged into the story.
CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: It was no surprise that President Trump hit the brakes on every Biden-era EV policy. California's ability to require EVs, gone. Federal rules about emissions and fuel economy rewritten. Federal penalties for selling too many gas guzzlers zeroed out. The $7,500 federal tax credit, kaput. But there were some surprises along the way. Remember when Trump lined up a bunch of Teslas on the White House lawn and hyped them up?
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Let me get into this - all set. I'll watch secret service go crazy.
DOMONOSKE: While Trump hated pro-EV policies, he's always said, if you want one, you should buy one. And then he said he bought one himself.
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TRUMP: This is a different panel than I - everything's computer.
DOMONOSKE: Now, that endorsement didn't sell too many cars based on Tesla's performance this summer, but Trump inadvertently helped sell a lot of EVs in the fall. When he signed the law that made that tax credit go away, there was a rush on EVs. It's classic shopper psychology. Act fast. This deal won't last. EV sales soared to their highest market share ever, nearly 12% of new car sales, and then crashed by more than half the month after the credit disappeared.
STEPHANIE VALDEZ STREATY: It's a roller coaster ride.
DOMONOSKE: Stephanie Valdez Streaty monitors EVs for the data and services company Cox Automotive. Meanwhile, on the business side, automakers have slowed down or canceled unprofitable EV plans left and right. The all-electric Ram pickup canceled before a single one was even built. The all-electric Ford Lightning discontinued. Both pickups were replaced with extended-range versions with a big battery and a gas tank. The buzzy Volkswagen Buzz still available in other countries, but no more in the States. The list goes on. This has real effects for businesses and factories that had banked on those plans going through, Valdez Streaty says.
VALDEZ STREATY: When you postpone things - right? - or you delay things, then it just has that ripple effect, and it creates impact to jobs.
DOMONOSKE: And the slowdown also locks in higher carbon emissions and air pollution for years to come. But here's a twist. While the government was slamming the brakes and automakers shifting to the slow lane, America's appetite for EVs...
BRENT GRUBER: The interest in electric vehicles actually ticked up a bit after the tax credit went away.
DOMONOSKE: That's Brent Gruber, who runs the EV practice at J.D. Power, which does a lot of surveys for the auto industry. This is a story about electric vehicles that you might not have heard this year. Interest is steady. About a quarter of new car shoppers are very interested in buying one, and that has stayed pretty consistent, Gruber says, despite all the turbulence. And people who buy an EV overwhelmingly want another EV for their next vehicle.
BJ Birtwell runs the Electrify Expo, a traveling festival dedicated to EVs. He thinks that the politics around EVs have hampered sales. But the vehicles themselves are persuasive. He talks with thousands of potential car buyers each year.
BJ BIRTWELL: The conversations that I'm having are, oh, these cars are a lot more fun to drive than I expected. Oh, I can charge at home. It's like I have a gas station at home. It cost me $15 to fill up my car.
DOMONOSKE: When people who are skeptical of EV's actually try one out, he says...
BIRTWELL: I'll tell you what. I see smiles for miles.
DOMONOSKE: That appeal is one reason why automakers, despite slowing down their EV plans, are not giving up on them entirely. The interest is still there. The other reason is the rest of the world.
HUILING ZOU: On a global scale, internal combustion engine cars already peaked back, like, eight, nine years ago.
DOMONOSKE: Huiling Zou monitors the EV market for the research group BloombergNEF. And consider what she just said. Cars that run on gas or diesel have been a shrinking market for years. EVs, meanwhile, have grown to a quarter of global sales, driven by China, which is increasingly exporting cars around the world. Automakers don't just want to sell cars in the U.S., and if they want to compete globally, they can't afford to get off the EV roller coaster.
Camila Domonoske, NPR News.
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