- US EV registrations dipped for the first time in a decade last year.
- December sales plunged 48 percent after the EV tax credit repeal.
- Analysts expect a slow recovery as prices and charging improve.
After a decade of growth, America’s electric car boom has stopped booming. In 2025, EV registrations slipped 0.4 percent to 1.3 million units, marking the first annual decline in at least 10 years. That’s not exactly a collapse, but it is the first crack in what once looked like an unstoppable surge.
The real drama arrived in December. Registrations plunged 48 percent year over year to just 75,427 vehicles after Congress repealed the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. EVs’ share of the overall market tumbled from 9.9 percent in December 2024 to 5.3 percent in the same month in ’25.
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For the full year, EVs accounted for 7.8 percent of light vehicle registrations, down slightly from 8 percent in 2024, according to S&P Global Mobility data reported by Auto News. Meanwhile, total vehicle registrations rose 2.2 percent to 16.25 million units. In other words, Americans kept buying cars, but they increasingly chose ones with old-fashioned combustion engines.
Warning Signs Were There
The slowdown didn’t come out of nowhere. Growth had already cooled from triple-digit surges earlier in the decade to an 11 percent gain in 2024. Through the first half of 2025, EV registrations were still up 4.6 percent before the July announcement that the tax credit would vanish at the end of September. Buyers rushed to beat the deadline in the third quarter, then the market fell silent in the fourth.
Price remains the elephant in the charging bay. Even with incentives, EV sticker prices have hovered above what mainstream buyers feel comfortable paying. Early adopters are largely spoken for, and the next wave of customers worries about charging access and range anxiety. Hybrids have quietly become the safe middle ground.
Tesla Trouble
Tesla, still the heavyweight champion of EV sales, saw its registrations drop 6.8 percent for the year to 570,418 vehicles. Its market share slipped 3.1 percent to 44.9 percent. December was painful but not catastrophic, with a 35 percent decline.
The Model Y held its crown, but the Cybertruck and Model 3 both took heavy hits, and with the Model S and X due to be axed this year and the once-rumored small model not happening, this year is going to be tough, too.
Ford endured an even steeper December slide of 61 percent, while Cadillac enjoyed a rare bright spot thanks to genuinely fresh models, something Tesla badly needs. Rivian and Hyundai also saw declines, underscoring that this was not a one-brand problem, though Rivian does at least have a plan in the form of the smaller R2 SUV that goes on sale this year.
So is that it for EVs? Was it just a brief fad, like fidget spinners? No, analysts expect a slow and steady rebound as automakers trim prices and expand incentives. Charging networks are improving, and some EVs are nearing price parity with comparable gas models. The boom may be over, but the electric story is far from finished.
