EV Sales Plummet In October After Federal Tax Credit Ends (caranddriver.com) 312
Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares a report from Car and Driver: Sales of electric vehicles surged in September as shoppers rushed to take advantage of the $7500 federal EV tax credit before it disappeared at the end of the month. With the government subsidies now gone, EV sales were expected to take a hit in October. While only a few automakers still report sales on a monthly basis, the results we do have do not paint a rosy picture for EVs in a post-tax credit world.
The Korean automakers were hit particularly hard by the loss of the tax credit. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was the fifth-best-selling EV through the third quarter of this year, experienced a 63 percent drop, moving 1642 units in October 2025, down from 4498 in 2024. Its platform-mates saw similar declines. The Kia EV6 moved just 508 units, down 71 percent versus the same month the year before, while the luxurious Genesis GV60 only found 93 buyers, a 54 percent slide year over year. Things were even worse at Honda. While the Acura ZDX was recently discontinued after just a single model year, the related Honda Prologue remains on sale but registered just 806 units, down 81 percent from 4130 sales in October 2024. [...]
Obviously, this isn't the full picture, as several major players -- including General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen -- only release sales reports on a quarterly basis, and others, such as Tesla and Rivian, don't break out individual sales at all. But with four of the top 10 bestselling EVs through Q3 all showing noteworthy declines in October, it spells trouble for the EV market at large. The end-of-year sales figures will provide a much clearer picture of whether October was just a blip or the start of a much more widespread problem for EV sales.
The Korean automakers were hit particularly hard by the loss of the tax credit. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was the fifth-best-selling EV through the third quarter of this year, experienced a 63 percent drop, moving 1642 units in October 2025, down from 4498 in 2024. Its platform-mates saw similar declines. The Kia EV6 moved just 508 units, down 71 percent versus the same month the year before, while the luxurious Genesis GV60 only found 93 buyers, a 54 percent slide year over year. Things were even worse at Honda. While the Acura ZDX was recently discontinued after just a single model year, the related Honda Prologue remains on sale but registered just 806 units, down 81 percent from 4130 sales in October 2024. [...]
Obviously, this isn't the full picture, as several major players -- including General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen -- only release sales reports on a quarterly basis, and others, such as Tesla and Rivian, don't break out individual sales at all. But with four of the top 10 bestselling EVs through Q3 all showing noteworthy declines in October, it spells trouble for the EV market at large. The end-of-year sales figures will provide a much clearer picture of whether October was just a blip or the start of a much more widespread problem for EV sales.
EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Informative)
Neither the summary nor the article bother to mention this.
Re: EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't you hear -- only the USA matters...!
(... to US people, at least)
Re: (Score:2)
"(... to US people, at least)"
LOL, a real sophisticated take. You're definitely superior to Car & Driver and /. editors
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Billionaires work across national lines and have class solidarity. If it wasn't Murdoch it would have just been a different billionaire creating the propaganda that made us also crazy.
Post world war II the elite, the actual elite not blue-haired professor is running the women's studies department at a community college, but the actual elite decided they were all going to work together to ben
Re: (Score:2)
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Informative)
Also it's going to be in large part due to people rushing to buy them before the tax credit ends.
In any case, the US needs more affordable EVs. In Europe they reached price parity with fossils a while back.
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the US needs more affordable cars[*]. Everything has just spiraled up in the direction of ever more expensive, ever more bloated monstrosities.
[*] well really they also need less car dependence but that's another topic entirely.
Re: EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Interesting)
The typical well-equipped Civic from the early '90s (EX or Si in the $11kâ"$12k range) would be around $26,000â"$28,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars today.
The 2025 Honda Civic starts around $24,250 for the LX trim, with better-equipped versions reaching $30,000 or more. Not only is this roughly the same price, but you're also getting a bigger and drastically safer car for the money today, even before considering the extra features standard on cars now.
Re: EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Informative)
You can buy a top spec MG EV around that price now. It's a shame the US banned them, or you would have price parity by now.
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Insightful)
You can thank the federal DOT regulations for a good part of this. When every car is required to meet a very long list of requirements, like rear-view cameras and accompanied display, the cost is passed straight on to the consumer.
There are many vehicles kept out of the US market by these regulations. I own a Suzuki Samurai (you know, the little "jeep" thing from the 1980s), and there is actually a very large group of people still fixing these up and running them. Well, they still make them (called the Suzuki Jimny [globalsuzuki.com]) and they are fully modernized, and start under $20k USD. These things would sell like CRAZY in the US, but they aren't legal here. Basically everywhere else in the world, but not here. Because there is some requirement (IE extra expense) they are not meeting to allow them in the US market. There are many affordable vehicles like these out there that can't be sold in the US.
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Insightful)
rear-view cameras and accompanied display
Rear-view cameras and their installation cost manufacturers less than $50 per car. Consumers say that back-up cameras are worth at least $300 in value to them, and historically there have been almost 300 back-up deaths per year, a huge portion of which is parents backing over their own children (many of which could be prevented with cameras), plus additional costs from injuries or other damages from back-up accidents (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-benefit-cost-analysis/article/rear-visibility-and-some-unresolved-problems-for-economic-analysis-with-notes-on-experience-goods/E23D2791A6A365D827A82B0AF468049C).
I'll happily pay $50 toward a car if it means it decreases the chance I, or one of my neighbors, will back over a child.
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Insightful)
well really they also need less car dependence but that's another topic entirely.
I'm sorry, but this is the usual statement about how we need less car dependence. In cities where things are densely packed, we already use mass transit. In areas where they aren't, we use cars. The former cities are considered walkable. Most European cities are also considered walkable. I've hiked across entire cities in Europe. I couldn't do that easily in the US. I've hiked up hills that aren't particularly tall on one side of 250,000 person cities and seen farm fields on the far side. Try doing that in the US. The US is built around cars, not busses and trains. There's no magic cure. It would require razing down almost all of the entire country. Efforts are being made so that some developments look more like European cities, but they are few and far between compared to post-WWII America housing and offices.
Re: (Score:2)
but this is the usual statement about how we need less car dependence.
Yes?
In cities where things are densely packed, we already use mass transit.
You don't really, not much. But also in, say, France, there are towns with 140,000, in a metro area of 400,000 with mass transit systems (trams).
The US is built around cars, not busses and trains. There's no magic cure. It would require razing down almost all of the entire country.
You already did that once, you can do it again! Many, many cities in the US were buil
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you ever been to France as anything other than a tourist visiting central Paris? My last trip was a work one to Le Mans (nothing to do with the cars), another tiny city with a tram system. As soon as you get out of the middle the density decreased.
France, much like the UK and the rest of Europe doesn't consist exclusively of squashed apartments. Here's something to blow your mind: I live in London. I have a house with 3 floors. I have a garden at the back and a small one at the front. And I don't even own a car because between walking, biking and public transport, I simply don't need one.
What?! That's impossible! Europeans are stacked vertically because there's so little space and that's the only way mass transit can work!!!one.
Yes I'm being sarcastic because I find it incredibly stupid when Americans tell me I can't be living how I literally live right now.
Uhm, no. That didn't happen.
Uhm yes it did. It's excusable being ignorant about Europe, provided you are not willfully so. But how are you so ignorant about your own country? Would you like some links?
Again, that didn't happen.
Again, yes it does. If you don't exclusively fit detached homes, then you won't have walkable neighbourhoods because there's nothing to walk to, and they exclude anyone for whom such a home is less suitable. These are the zoning laws in the majority of your country. There are others too. Again would you like to know more?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously...why not just drop this trope.
Unless you force US citizens to selll their homes and all move to extreme urban cities....it just ain't gonna happen.
Peroid.
Do you folks from EU ever stop to think that we LIKE the way we live over here?
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Unless you force US citizens to selll their homes and all move to extreme urban cities.
Why don't you drop this trope? I know it's a American attitude but things between the two wildest extremes do exist.
Do you folks from EU ever stop to think that we LIKE the way we live over here?
Maybe you should visit Stockholm. I hear the syndromes there are great!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
LOL! They definitely did not reach any price parity with ICE. Not on features, not on price. You pay more to get less.
VW Polo entry level
80 BHP
5.5L/100 KM
Range: 700-800km
Trunk: 351L
€25805
ID.3 entry level
170BHP
Range: 356km
Trunk: 385L
€34000
------------------
if you use it for short trips, then the ID.3 is cheaper to run, but you paid almost €9000 more... that was the price of a small car not too long ago... a
Re: (Score:3)
Compare MG with similar cars. Look at actual sale prices, not list prices which only exist for tax purposes.
For example, an MG S5 top spec long range is about £23-24k, and a similar size and spec Nissan Qashqai is around £32k. Those are actual sale prices, not list. I'm not even sure anyone makes anything fossil powered that is similar size and spec to the S5, in the same price bracket. Probably another Chinese manufacturer.
Range exceeds bladder capacity so is basically a non-issue f
Re: (Score:2)
no.
comparing same brand cars.
"oh look this Chinese state owned company called "MG" has cheaper cars"
Re: (Score:2)
sounds like you're fairly young, unattached and don't have small kids
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:5, Informative)
how horrible is that..
I ran the numbers just for shits and giggles assuming my own country's electricity price (at the charging pole) and petrol price going past the station on the way home today and over a 5 year period driving 15000km/yr the ID.3 is cheaper. I actually drive 25000km/yr so even on a 3 year lease term the ID.3 is cheaper for me. I didn't include the cost of maintenance (which is far higher for a gasoline car). Not sure why you would fill an electric car at EUR0.75/kWh. I've had my car for years and never once hooked it to a fast charger at that price. I'm sure you must be one of those people who spend all their lives doing long-distance road trips.
My wife's car is 10 years old now. Over that period of time the ID.3 would have been an outright bargain even with your hyper inflated numbers. And your numbers are hyper inflated. That 34000EUR ID.3 model sells for 29900EUR on VW's website now, while the cheapest polo is 25990EUR. In fact when I run my actual numbers for my country using your choice of car I would pay it back in only 2 years. Heck over a 6 year period the ID.3 is cheaper if neither car is driven at all, just based on road taxes alone.
Re: (Score:2)
"In any case, the US needs more affordable EVs"
Canada may be soon to get some from China although the 1st beneficiary of the new rules, if they pass, would be Tesla's Shanghai factory.
Re: (Score:2)
They are great cars, and even if you don't want one yourself, they will force other manufacturers to up their game.
Re:EV sales in *USA* plummet (Score:4, Funny)
Were there any OTHER countries that had a federal tax credit of $7500 expire at the end of September?
Re: (Score:2)
Wait, federal doesn't apply to everyone in the world?
Re: (Score:2)
It applies to some countries outside the U.S., but not all.
Re: (Score:2)
No, just only to federations such as Canada, Russia, Switserland, the USA, India, the UAE, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you think battery manufacturing really will spin up in the US?
The current administration is hostile to anything that displaces coal and gas, so that's at least another 3 years of uncertainty and lack of support. Meanwhile everyone else surges ahead.
I think the ship may well have sailed on that one, I'm afraid.
Re:Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:5, Informative)
You might want to talk to some South Koreans who have vowed never to go back to the US after ICE arrested them, held them for a week in those detention centers, then deported them back to South Korea.
Even worse, it was a MAGA happy government official that "tipped off" ICE. They were workers from Hyundai which were setting up a battery plant and EV manufacturing plant in Georgia who were there to oversee the construction and the training of American workers. So they were some of the top people around - engineers, scientists and others who all got rudely arrested and only sent back because the South Korean government begged for their return. Meanwhile over the week they were detained they were put in the most miserable detention environments around. So much so South Korea launched a human rights review of how they were treated.
The Governor of Georgia and other high ranking state officials have been begging South Korea to let them return, but all but one wants to. There's a whole pile of jobs in a half-built pair of factories that are basically gone over someone's "deport the criminals" moment.
So yeah, those battery plants might not come online anytime soon now that that incident scared away any possible investment
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
With any luck, once Trump is out of office, all of those people involved in the illegal activities by ICE will be charged with crimes, found guilty of breaking the law, and thrown in prison. That would go a long way to helping international relations.
Re: (Score:3)
Haha, that's never going to happen.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, they all need to go to the Hague, but that will never happen...
Re: (Score:2)
With any luck, once Trump is out of office, all of those people involved in the illegal activities by ICE will be charged with crimes, found guilty of breaking the law, and thrown in prison.
That requires a sense of urgency that the Dems have failed show. Garland was known to be someone who would not be quick to act. Many of Biden's actions came too late in his presidency to have a meaningful impact.
Re: (Score:2)
Every American president since Carter has been a war criminal.
If you're expecting accountability, revise your expectations.
Re: (Score:2)
If they were here illegally WTF did you expect would happen to them....?
Re: (Score:3)
And presumably didn't bother to get visas?
Yes indeed. That's been a dirty secret of foreign company construction industry for a while now. But that's beside the point, the policy is clashing with itself. You want to build factories in America, you want to train American people you'll need to bring in the expertise to do so. Now on the flip side your foreign policy is so hostile that it's physically impossible to get the visas to do so (business Visa waiting lists are just shy of a year in the USA embassy in South Korea, it's better in some European
Re: (Score:2)
What makes you think the batteries produced locally will be cheaper? I don't think there's any reason to think that.
Re:Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:5, Interesting)
LFPs would only be objectively worse than NMC if the *only* criterion that mattered were weight. But while weight is definitely one important criterion, it's *not* the only criterion, not by a long shot, and on many other extremely important criteria, LFP comes out ahead: cost, safety, lifespan, stability, degradation, and availability.
Also, while it's true that LMR and solid state aren't here yet, it's patently clear that battery chemistries will continue to meaningfully improve over time. Look how far we've come already, and that's with just a few million EVs sold to date. When we get to tens of millions a year, that scale will enable much more extensive exploration of better chemistries.
Re: (Score:2)
"LFPs are objectively worse than NMCs for automotive due to being about a fifth heavier for any given capacity"
is that total pack weight or cell level weight?
a certain amount of pack weight would be for cooling & thermal mitigation. LFP presumably requires less of both
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
LFP can be routinely charged to 100%, unlike NMC which is recommended to charge to 80% most of the time. In fact, LFP thrives when trickle charged all the way to 100.% and battery manufacturers recommend charging to 100% to maintain battery health. LFP also have a very flat discharge voltage curve, so in cars where that matters, LFP can be discharged deeper than similar NMC batteries before the voltage drops too far. Between the 100% charge and equivalent or b
Re: (Score:2)
The drop in sales is in comparing October of last year to October of this year so this decline isn't from any buying surge.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You have to take into account what the sales were in September of this year compared to September of last year. If October sales were 3000 lower than last year, but September sales were 3000 higher than last year, then that's zero total change.
What? Why do you "have" to do that? Are you trying to juice the numbers to get a result you want or something?
Re:Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:4, Insightful)
If you can't understand that, I don't know how else to explain it.
Re: (Score:3)
The actual statement in the article is that the decline cause is the end of the tax credit, not the surge.
What is obvious is that the surge in sales in the last couple of months makes the drop seems even more significant.
Anyway, even specialists are saying that people - knowing the credits would end - anticipated buying an EV, this also helped to cause a drop in sales in October. Which makes sense.
https://insideevs.com/news/777... [insideevs.com]
Re: (Score:2)
It can be, because there is the front-loading of sales. Oh, the prices will go up in two months, so buy now is something you see all around the world. Companies like Intel and NVIDIA also have done it, they encourage sales in Q1, then you see the sales drop like a rock for Q2 and Q3 and even Q4 in some cases. We knew about tariffs back in February of this year, and many of us knew they were going to cause prices to go up, so people actually purchased stuff in January and February, even when we wouldn'
Re:Not surprising, and nothing to worry (Score:5, Insightful)
While that's true, this isn't the only lever the Trump administration is pulling in its attempt to shift Americans back towards ICE vehicles. There's also tariff and non-tariff barriers, ICE raids, planning delays for plants chargers etc, removal of chargers, removal of funding for charging networks, etc etc. All accompanied by giant doses of propaganda from the bully pulpit and its amplifiers.
It is easier to break than fix, and the Trump admin is doing its very absolute damndest to break EV purchases.
I think there's a non-trivial chance that they succeed, and the net result will be a decoupling of the US automotive sector from the entire rest of the world, and a permanent reduction in US competitiveness as a result from the economic and other impacts.
I've been a big fan of Heinlein ever since I was a teenager. Up till about five years ago, I thought his hard science fiction was where he was most prescient. But now it's his description of the collapse of the American state that seems most accurate: from Scudder to headlines dominated by stupidity. He would, I'm sure, be horrified but unsurprised by what's happened.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If you want to throw a moral hissy fit anyway, be my guest.
Blew their load (Score:5, Insightful)
Take the Q3 sales for EVs, cut them in half, and spread them out over Q3 and Q4. There, now you have a clear picture of what sales would probably have been like (or maybe a few % higher) had EV subsidies stayed in place. People who were planning to buy an EV in the latter half of 2025 went ahead and did so before Sept 30th.
Surprise!! (Score:2)
Subsidy goes down, sales go down.
No big mysteries here!
I always miss the "sale price" on shit. Seems like despite my best efforts, whenever I need to spend a lot of money on something, I always miss the sale and have to pay full price.
In this case, I'd be so distraught over missing out on a free $7500, I might NEVER buy an EV. I might not be able to get away from holding on to hope that the "sales price" might come back in the future.
The Full Picture (Score:2)
Obviously, this isn't the full picture..
Yeah. We see the full picture every day. When we drive by every American new car lot and see how full they are. Your COVID-infected MSRP+FU pricing made that clear. And you greedy fucks deserve nothing less. Fuck your heated seat subscriptions. Fuck your proprietary infotainment. Fuck your touchscreen-everything.
Too Big To Fail? Good luck trying that shit again. If the wealthiest of tree huggers can still find a reason to own a private jet, the rest of society coukd care less about supporting EV
What's happening to the US? (Score:5, Informative)
Having lived the last 50+ years knowing the US as the leading country in innovation and technological advancement, it truly astounds me how the situation seems to have completely reversed now.
The shift to clean energy is not only a matter of environmental preservation but also of economic progress. Americans seem to be voluntarily and stubbornly choosing to stay out of this movement.
What this means is an increasing divide between the US market and the rest of the world, significantly reducing the space for American industries and the country's influence on global trade.
And, paradoxically, this only worsens the US position in relation to China, the very scenario that the same people who reject clean energy fear so much.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Domestically producing the fuel for my vehicle seems more "free" than relying on potentially hostile middle eastern countries.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You can go away from home without planning or stress about where you need to charge or how long it will take - most daily journeys are much shorter than the range of typical EVs. So it's more about how willing people are to be subservient to those who have told them to think of it as sacrificing freedom.
Re: (Score:2)
I get people's more immediate concerns. But that is exactly why the country (through politicians, companies and governments) should encourage and invest on innovation that lead to better outcomes, not demonize and setting it back.
This reminds of the famous Ford quote: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
As I said, what most Americans seems to be actively fighting against it right now, is exactly what could drive them towards several more decades of global
Sacrificing freedom? (Score:3)
I have freedom to travel - been road tripped all over the US since getting my 1st Model 3 in 2018. My folks enjoyed the trips they'd taken with me so much that they bought a Model Y. We typically take a 2700 mile round trip each year to visit family in Wisconsin. We took my folks' Model Y on our longest trip so far: [x.com] 5000 miles to Yellowstone, onto Tacoma Washington to visit family, then back to Houston.
I also have energy freedom - 99% of my charging is now done via the solar panels on my roof by using Tes
Re: (Score:2)
A black president broke peoples' brains so badly they created the TEA party which then morphed into MAGA.
Fascism (Score:2)
What you're seeing is the culmination of 60 years of attacks on democracy. It's a fundamental breaking of every single check and balance and ever
Re: (Score:2)
"Having lived the last 50+ years knowing the US as the leading country in innovation and technological advancement, it truly astounds me how the situation seems to have completely reversed now."
We are over-saturated with change. Too much too fast. It may be different for you personally, but few of these changes have been for the better. Enshitification or more politely encrapification are words now. Landfills are overflowing, fast fashion has polyester fibers blowing everywhere, and now you want to scrap ev
Re: (Score:2)
You, sir, are the very example of what I was talking about.
So many false premises, so much bitterness about "change". It's ok to any person to feel anxious about changing. As an old man I surely have my anxieties, too.
But that shouldn't be the driving motivation for a country. It certainly wasn't for the rest of US history.
The US could be leading the way in this immensely important change. But I see many of you (my US counterparts in this forum) actively fighting against it and then being frightened (and ev
Re: (Score:2)
Having lived the last 50+ years knowing the US as the leading country in innovation and technological advancement, it truly astounds me how the situation seems to have completely reversed now.
What's happening is that the Republican plan for decades is being fulfilled. During the Reagan administration they began compromising education in order to produce low-information voters, the actual phrase was they were trying to eliminate the "educated proletariat" and they succeeded. Now enough Americans are dumber than dogshit for them to sell fascism as freedom. We've maintained our technological advantage until now by importing educated people from other countries, but now that we're abusing anyone who
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone in charge figured out they already have enough yachts, so there's no need for progress or innovation.
if they made sense you wouldn't need bribery (Score:5, Insightful)
I strongly considered a phev for my last purchased car in dec 24, the math didn't math.
I expect eventually I will get an ev, but I still think they're a Veblenseque luxury* rather than a rationally good choice for most American drivers.
Re: (Score:2)
Veblenseque
The crommulence of your word choice is most Aladeen.
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, Thorsten Veblen was the one who wrote the book Conspicuous Consumption (where consumers make rational choices but it's about displaying things not efficiency with their money).
Not sure there was an ELI5 way to say that for anyone bothering to read it.
Re: (Score:2)
Nearly every car sold in Norway is an EV now. They also have cold winters and long distances.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
They're also a fantastically wealthy petro state with a highly-educated population and a persistent culture of high conformity, collectivism, ecological responsibility, and social welfare most of which are features which have been famously hard to export to ... anywhere.
And they are nearly entirely white making it extra ironic that their culture is so frequently touted as exemplary by leftists who simultaneously insist "white culture" is the source of everything wrong with the world.
The racial distribution
Re:if they made sense you wouldn't need bribery (Score:4, Interesting)
I strongly considered a phev for my last purchased car in dec 24, the math didn't math. I expect eventually I will get an ev, but I still think they're a Veblenseque luxury* rather than a rationally good choice for most American drivers.
I honestly don't understand why anyone buys a PHEV. They cost as much as a similarly trimmed EV, but you still have to do oil changes, coolant top ups, etc etc. It's the worst of both worlds.
Well, I DO get it - people have range anxiety. But it's irrational.
Re:if they made sense you wouldn't need bribery (Score:4, Insightful)
In your case it would make much more sense to just have an efficient gas vehicle. PHEVs cost essentially the same as EVs. You'll never make that cost delta up in fuel savings.
EVs make sense (for those with the appropriate drive profile) because they move you to a whole new paradigm where the design of a car can be fundamentally re-thought.
PHEVs cost EV prices, but come with all the baggage and maintenance requirements of legacy ICE design. If EVs don't work for your situation, the rational answer is a good gas car.
I bought... (Score:3)
My EV6 GT Line on Aug 31 simply because I wanted the benefit of the $7500 incentive. It made the price of a car I could barely afford suddenly affordable...well...sorta. Never thought I'd see the day I would spend $56K on a car before the incentive!
Now, I love the car. It's quick, has great range, and lots of cool features.
But, WTF are cars, especially EVs, so darned expensive? $725/mo for 6 years is a big nut. I remember when $300/mo was high.
And, while it's cheaper to charge than filling my former 12 yo car, it's not going to pay for itself.
Sheesh
Re: I bought... (Score:2)
I wanted an EV and a somewhat luxurious and well equipped one at that.
Did not want to buy another gasoline powered vehicle-been doing that for over 40 years. It's my turn to own something nice since the divorce.
I sold my 12 year old Sonata (no damage). But, with 160K on it, it was eating oil after long trips (1-2 quarts every 500 miles or so) - known problem with the Hyundai Sonata.
Brain rot (Score:2)
I don't know what brain rot you're all drinking but keep it away from me.
Re: (Score:2)
They must also live in a Mediterranean climate. Here in the rust belt a working 25 year old car is few and far between.
A discount in September affected sales in October? (Score:2)
OMG who would have thought that a massive coupon expiring at the end of September would cause people to move purchases up. It's just shocking. Nobody could have seen this one coming, it's just unprecedented
The ugly truth (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean, this isn't rocket science:
Joe or Jane consumer is actively looking to purchase an EV in a month or two.
Joe or Jane consumer see tax credit being eliminated and go, "I'mma get me that!"
Joe or Jane consumer, and a bunch of their fellow car shoppers, buy EV before credits expire.
October rolls around and the tax credit is gone, along with many of the near purchase consumers who bought while the tax credit was still active.
Re: (Score:2)
>> October rolls around and the tax credit is gone, along with many of the near purchase consumers who bought while the tax credit was still active.
Not to mention the inventory is also gone. Not a single EV on the lot at any local dealer here.. I waited too long and they were all gone. I was going to buy an EV9 but now I have to wait until Kia backs the tax credit out of the price.
I suspect Tesla will take a 12 to 15% hit (Score:2)
This is on top of the cybertruck flopping ( it was always a pump and dump scam anyway), the loss of the indirect government subsidies from carbon credits bought by other car companies and Elon musk's current pay package being larger than all the money Tesla has ever made ever.
Meanwhile Elon is trying to get a yet another pay package worth a literal trillion dollars.
Right now the only reason the stock hasn't
All vehicles should be tax-credit free (Score:2)
If you can't afford a new one buy used, keep what you've got or use public transportation.
Plus the US ought to be importing or making domestically the smaller models [carscoops.com] available in Southeast Asia and South America.
really? (Score:2)
Since the sales surged in september, and "plummeted" in October, what really matters is the sum of Sept and Oct, relative to the same period the previous year.
Re: (Score:2)
October sales were garbage because manufacturers haven't lowered the price yet to compensate for the loss of the subsidy, and honestly a lot of EV manufacturers may simply elect to just stop making EVs because profit margins are going to be much much lower without the elevated prices.
ALL car sales have been shit for a while now, due to MSRP+FU pricing arrogance that’s now being marketed as “on sale” at only MSRP+fu pricing. They haven’t lowered greedy markups since COVID. On damn near anything on the lot.
If American car makers think not making EVs is going to generate that “traditional” high profit they like, they should take a walk through their current unsold inventory. See how the rest of that dumpster fire is doing and buy a clue. They wish th
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Buying huge SUVs adds $30,000 to the price most people would have spent if SUVs were not an obsession.
Re: (Score:2)
It's hard to find something that isn't a SUV or bus-like minivan if you want a family vehicle that can take more than 2 kids who need boosters or car seats. Fix the CAFE standards so that station wagons are legal and profitable again please!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well above 50% of US homes have a driveway. So the US is clearly nowhere near saturation of every household who has "an easy solution for charging" having bought one. Price remains an important barrier, but obviously cultural issues relating to what EVs signify vs ICe vehicles are also crucial in the US, in a way they just aren't in, say, Malaysia or Denmark. And other policy levers matter as well, for example the size and quality of the public charging network.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe, maybe not (Score:2)
For the first 6 months of owning my 1st Model 3 in 2018 I charged using the 120V 15amp outlet in my garage. It "filled up" at a rate of 5 mph, which means it will top off the 33 miles per day US average [kbb.com] in just over 6 1/2 hours.
My home in the Houston metro only has 100 amp service as I have a natural gas stove, dryer, water heater, and furnace. I had an electrician install a 240V 50 amp outlet at the end of 2018 because I'd switched to a free-nights electric plan and wanted to make sure all charging was do
Re: (Score:2)
We have a driveway, but I don't park there.
I park on the street in front of my house, because if I don't, someone else will park there and block my mailbox.
Re: (Score:2)
If 99% of householders *also* didn't park on their driveway, perhaps you'd have a point. But most people with a driveway and a car do in fact park on their driveway, so you don't have a point.
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me you've never been a landlord, without telling me you've never been a landlord.
Landlords LOVE chargers. They attract higher-income renters with better credit ratings, especially if they're at the high end of power output. I installed at least one and sometimes two Autel 50A chargers at all 28 of my rental properties three years ago and have been steadily able to cycle out to higher-paying, lower credit risk tenants.
Re: (Score:2)
And once again, if 99% of single family homes in America were rented, you might have some semblance of a point, but in fact 65% are owner-occupied, so you don't.
Re: (Score:2)
Being paid by the word?