EVs are getting a temporary Trump bump thanks to expiring incentives

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for electric vehicles. On the first day of his presidency, he signed an executive order to eliminate EV incentives that he has often falsely portrayed as an “electric vehicle mandate.” And last month, Republicans in Congress voted to kill the $7,500 tax credit, among other subsidies designed to make EVs more affordable.

You’d think all this negative overhead would depress EV sales, but instead, Americans are rushing to take advantage of those credits before they expire on September 30th (or thereabouts). Automakers are pouring fuel on the fire in the form of their own discounts and incentives. As a result, EV sales are soaring to new heights right now — and it’s all thanks to Trump.

Battery-electric vehicles are expected to account for 12.8 percent of car sales in August, up 3.2 percent year over year, according to JD Power. That’s also an increase of 1.6 percent from July’s figures and represents an all-time high for EVs, exceeding the previous peak of 11.2 percent set in December 2024.

“The coming twilight is causing consumers to speed up their purchases,” says Tyson Jominy, senior VP of data and analytics at JD Power.

Automakers eager to get EV-curious shoppers in the dealership are offering their own discounts of $6,700 per unit, an increase of $1,500 from July, the firm says. As a result, average EV transaction prices are down $2,500 to $44,300, which is now below the average of $45,700 for gas-powered vehicles.

You heard that right: right now, for what is very likely the first time ever, the average EV is cheaper than the average internal combustion engine vehicle.

Jominy says that EV inventory was expected to be a bottleneck but now could be “an albatross” for automakers. JD Power estimates that the total number of used and new EVs at dealerships in August is 197,000, down about 10,000 from July and enough for the next 59 days.

“Yet, like Cinderella’s magic, this brilliance faces a deadline — when the clock strikes midnight on Oct. 1, the $7,500 federal support vanishes, threatening to turn this inventory into costly pumpkins for automakers and dealers,” he says. At that point, automakers may need to ramp up the discounts in order to move their suddenly more costly EV inventory.

Most experts expect EV sales to fall back down to Earth through the rest of the year. But with more affordable models on the horizon, the loss of federal support could just be a bump in the road. Major players like Ford, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Toyota say they are committed to bringing more affordable EVs to market. Batteries are getting better, range is improving, and charging infrastructure is getting more dependable.

Sure, the US is running far behind China — like, really far — but the outlook isn’t so dire. Simply put, electric vehicles are just better than gas cars: they’re fun to drive and cheaper to own over the lifetime of the vehicle. There will be a lot of readjusting after incentives expire, and we’re already starting to see automakers delay or cancel certain models.

But EVs are still the future. Trump and the Republican Party may have delayed the inevitable, but they can’t stop what’s coming.