The single most consequential fact in the American EV market right now is an absence. The federal $7,500 clean vehicle tax credit ended early, fuel economy standards have been rolled back, and the regulatory pressure that shaped a decade of product planning has largely been removed.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for ending what he calls the electric mandate, most recently at a rally in Las Vegas, where he also cited the US EV take rate of roughly 7 percent. The figure is accurate. The context is that most other major markets are moving in the opposite direction.
The industrial cost has already landed
Ford booked a $19.5 billion writedown in 2025 against cancelled EV projects, explicitly citing the rollback of tax credits and fuel economy rules, and discontinued the F-150 Lightning after concluding it could not be made profitable. Lucid has delayed its volume model into 2027 while cutting costs. Subaru is reportedly spending three times more to sell an EV than a petrol car.
States are filling the gap, unevenly
What has emerged in place of a national policy is a patchwork. California is running MyFirstEV, a $135.5 million programme offering $3,500 on a new EV and $1,750 on a used one, cost-shared with manufacturers. Oregon is reopening its Clean Vehicle Rebate Program with income-qualified awards up to $7,500 in a fixed ten-week window.
For buyers this means the value of an incentive now depends heavily on which side of a state line you live on, which brand you choose, and how quickly you act before a capped fund runs out. For manufacturers it means planning volume against a dozen different rulebooks instead of one.
Regulators are getting quieter, too
The shift is not only fiscal. Reuters has reported that European regulators have kept safety data relating to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system confidential under pressure from the company, a reminder that transparency around driver assistance is contested on both sides of the Atlantic just as these systems become standard fitment on affordable vehicles.
What to watch
- Whether more states launch or expand rebate programmes before the end of the year
- How quickly capped state funds are exhausted, and whether they are replenished
- Whether manufacturers keep affordable EV programmes alive without federal support
- Any movement on emissions or fuel economy standards ahead of the next model year
