Without the federal EV tax credit, demand for electric cars would’ve eventually manifested in the United States on its own. But there’s no arguing that the tax credit accelerated that demand. The policy, which gifted a $7,500 tax rebate to buyers for EVs starting in 2009, did a lot to bring EVs closer to affordability;, being new, highly complex products, they were always going to be more expensive than their ICE counterparts. Without the tax credit, it’s entirely possible that Tesla wouldn’t be near as big as it is today. As of last week, that EV tax credit is dead. Unsurprisingly, automakers and dealers alike worry the EV market will now cave in on itself, considering every car in the segment just got a whole lot more expensive. To counteract this, automakers are attempting to fill the gap with discounts, rebates, and other incentives. But many of these deals won’t last forever.
What else? Tesla has offered its own car insurance since 2019 as a way to integrate the car ownership experience under one roof. Now, that arm of the company is facing a ban in California, with users reporting big delays in responses and unreasonable claim denials.
In other news, there’s a report out of Washington that says the Department of Energy is considering revoking $1.1 billion in grants to General Motors and Stellantis that would’ve been used to revitalize and retool old plants to build electric cars.
Speaking of Stellantis, it was named as a possible partner alongside Ford in a potential tie-up with Nissan. A report suggests Nissan could start selling rebadged Rogue hybrids to either of the brands mentioned above, a deal that could include a team-up in electric vehicle development. Nissan’s really doing everything it can to stay in the game.
The Discounts Aren’t Totally Gone Just Yet
There’s no doubt that the sales of electric cars are about to see a big slump in the fourth quarter. Lots of buyers sprang for their EVs last month to take advantage of the federal tax credit before it disappeared for good, resulting in record sales for some brands, including Tesla. With a bunch of satisfied buyers now out of the market (and the credit gone), there’s no way Q4 sales will reach anywhere near Q3’s numbers.
To cushion the fall, numerous brands are offering discounts of their own to keep buyers coming through the door. The most interesting strategy comes from Ford and GM, which, as The Autopian reported previously, actually used a loophole to take ownership of cars in its inventory it plans to lease to customers before the September 30th deadline, allowing lessees to take advantage of the credit even after that deadline has passed. Clever stuff. [Update: In the time since this article was published, GM has since backed out of this strategy, according to Reuters, and now plans to offer a more traditional lease incentive to bridge the gap left by the now-dead tax rebate. -BS]
Stellantis, the last of the Big Three, is using a more conventional approach by simply replicating the tax rebate with a bonus cash allowance of its own, and eating the discount itself. All of the conglomerate’s hybrids and EVs qualify, which means you’ll be able to use it on cars like the Dodge Charger Daytona, the Jeep Wagoneer S, and Jeep’s lineup of plug-ins. The discounts will only apply to existing inventory, according to Automotive News, and according to Stellantis’s websites, they expire on November 3.
Then there’s Tesla, which, on October 1st, added a $6,500 lease credit for the Model 3 and the Model Y to offset the loss of the federal rebate. It’s worth noting this credit isn’t available for either of the more affordable “Standard” versions of those cars launched yesterday. In fact, Tesla doesn’t give potential owners the option to lease that trim at all, according to its website.
Rivian is following in Tesla’s footsteps, offering a lease credit worth up to $6,500 for new owners. The offer expires at the end of the month, and only applies to a few models. From InsideEVs:
The biggest rebate of $6,500 applies to the 2025 R1S and R1T in three specific configurations: the tri-motor, the dual-motor with the Max battery pack and the Performance Upgrade, and the dual-motor with the Large battery and the Performance Upgrade. In other words, Rivian is trying to get rid of its inventory, but it’s worth noting that neither the entry-level Dual version with the Standard battery pack nor the top-spec Quad variant is eligible for any of these discounts.
That said, buyers can get $6,000 off the lease price of a 2026 R1S or R1T with the tri-motor configuration, while the 2026 R1S and R1T dual-motor with the Max battery and Performance Upgrade are eligible for a $5,000 lease bonus.
It’s not just American brands getting in on the action. BMW is offering $7,500 off its electric lineup and $5,000 off its plug-ins. This is only for vehicles purchased, not leased, and the discount ends after November 1, according to Car and Driver. Hyundai is taking what feels like a more permanent approach, slashing prices of its Ioniq 5 by up to $9,800 for the 2026 model year.
So if you’re sad you missed out on the federal credit, just know that there are still deals out there, at least for a few more weeks. Though the golden era may be behind us for now.
California Is Threatening To Shut Down Tesla’s Insurance
Tesla owners who use Tesla’s insurance are pretty upset with the service, at least according to California’s Department of Insurance. The organization announced plans last week to hold the car company’s subdivision accountable for failing “in their legal obligations to adequately handle hundreds of California automobile policyholder claims.” From the release:
The actions allege that, despite being repeatedly warned by the Department of Insurance, the Tesla Companies and State National instead chose to abandon their responsibility to consumers and persist with their non-compliant claims-handling practices, placing profits above people and flouting the law with impunity.
After continuing to receive a significant number of consumer complaints related to the handling of their automobile policyholder claims beginning in 2022, the Department of Insurance repeatedly warned the Tesla Companies and State National of the significant harm to their policyholders — largely Tesla drivers — unless immediate corrective actions were taken. Throughout numerous meetings with, correspondence between, and reports to the Department of Insurance, the companies repeatedly committed to improvements, but the number of justified consumer complaints and violations continued to mount. Instead of correcting their unlawful and egregious behavior, the companies disregarded the Department’s serious warnings and continued their misconduct, and the number of consumer complaints and the amount of legal violations have only continued to significantly increase. The companies face monetary penalties up to $5,000 for each unlawful, unfair, or deceptive act, or up to $10,000 for each such act determined to be willful.
Tesla Insurance has been in the news for years over allegedly less-than-satisfactory business practices. Reuters published a wide-ranging report back in 2023 covering the firm’s alleged inability to deliver timely communications, pay out on claims, or even pick up the phone. The CDI’s accusations seem similar:
The Department’s accusations are based on the companies’ ongoing systemic failures and willful unfair claims settlement practices including, but not limited to, the following alleged violations:
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Egregious delays in responding to policyholder claims in all steps of the claims handling process, causing financial harm, out-of-pocket expenses, potential third-party liability exposure, and distress to policyholders
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Unreasonable denials and delays in fully paying valid claims to consumers
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Failure to conduct thorough, fair, and objective investigations of claims, thus denying consumers the insurance benefits they expect
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Failure to advise policyholders of their rights to have their claims denials reviewed by the Department – a major consumer protection in California to make sure insurers are held accountable by their regulator
The CDI says Tesla Insurance has 15 days from October 3 to respond to the accusations, or else the provider could have its license to operate in the state suspended.
GM And Stellantis Could Be Out $1.1 Billion In Factory Retooling Grants
The cuts just keep on coming. Last year, the Biden administration awarded nearly $1.1 billion to GM and Stellantis to retool a trio of plants, with plans to convert them for EV and EV parts production. That money might not be coming in anymore, according to a government document seen by Reuters. From the report:
The projects are among a list of $12 billion in awards that could be canceled as the partial government shutdown persists.
Among those grants: $500 million awarded to GM to convert Lansing Grand River Assembly in Michigan to build electric vehicles; $335 million for Stellantis to convert the shuttered Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois to make midsize electric pickups; and $250 million for Stellantis to convert its Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo to produce EV components.
The possible cancellations come a week after the Energy Department announced plans to cancel $7.56 billion in financing for hundreds of energy projects that it said would not provide sufficient returns to taxpayers.
The Lansing plant currently builds the Cadillac CT4 and CT5, while the Belvidere plant hasn’t built anything since 2023, when the last-gen Cherokee went out of production.
As for why these previously earmarked funds could be canceled over the government shutdown, well, you’ll have to ask the current administration. As Reuters points out, this news comes just a week after the DOE announced plans to cut $7.5 billion in financing for various energy projects, and a week after White House budget director Russell Vought said on X that the admin would be cancelling nearly $8 billion in climate-related funding in 16 Democratic-run states. Only Belvidere falls under the States mentioned, though, so going by this Reuters report, the admin’s planned cuts could reach even farther than expected.
Nissan Could Supply Rebadged Rogue Hybrids To Ford Or Stellantis
The Nissan Rogue is a great car, and the world can use more of them. That could soon be a reality, as Rogue production may add a badge-engineered sibling wearing bodywork from one of the Big Three American automakers. A report from Automotive News claims the company is in talks with brands like Stellantis and Ford to sell an electrified crossover based on the ever-popular SUV. From the report:
The compact crossover would feature Nissan’s e-Power hybrid system, which uses a battery-powered electric motor to drive the wheels and a gasoline engine to recharge the battery.
Nissan would assemble the vehicle alongside the Rogue in Smyrna, Tenn.
Discussions include potential collaboration on electric vehicle development, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.
“It’s not a quid pro quo,” the person said, adding that a deal could happen even without an EV partnership.
While a Nissan official told Autonews there were no agreements in place right now, they did say the company “remains open to dialogue that delivers strategic, complementary market opportunities to our core model development efforts.” So that’s something.
If such a partnership does materialize, the badge-engineered, Rogue-based hybrid will likely use Nissan’s third-generation e-POWER tech, which utilizes one of the most thermally efficient engines in production right now. It’s already for sale in Europe, and it’s expected to make its first appearance in America via the Rogue next year, according to Autonews.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This month might be the last opportunity to get a properly discounted electric car before things get really expensive. So I’m listening to Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can” from her 1971 album, Pearl. But instead of love, I’ll be thinking about EVs.
The Big Question
Do you think anyone will buy EVs now that the tax incentive is dead?
As noted in the article, a Republican senator cleared his throat at GM and GM dutifully canceled their EV discount. Good job GM.
Ford could actually use an electrified Rogue based crossover. They don’t have enough hybrids in the lineup, a rare win win?
The incentive went away before, the first go around car makes only got the credit for the 1st 100,000 EVs sold, both Tesla and GM used theirs up, but strangely they kept selling cars, so weird.
So yes, people will still buy EVs, and hopefully the EVs won’t depreciate as bad.
Breaking: Tesla to enter health insurance market, in a bid to be more evil than United Healthcare.
Hope for another Luigi.
We aren’t that kind of community here.
Will anyone buy EV without the credit?
I may be interested. Not at current prices without the incentives, but if they actually just start building EVs like cars and pricing them that way I’m definitely open.
I have an Ioniq 5 right now. Wife loves it. I find a lot of the tech annoying. Neither one of us would be interested at the $50k+ sticker price. As a car, it is not worth that much. We need to get to a place where EVs are priced just for their value as Vs, without the E adding a five figure premium.
I’d be fine with paying a little more for the electric drivetrain, and probably would select it (depending on the required packages to choose it) since I do like the electric drivetrain and charging has been very convenient.
It would not turn me away if such a car had the gauge cluster, center console, switch gear, etc from its ICE counterpart. I am willing to benefit from economies of scale. If manufacturers want to sell EVs, they will have to build EVs like they build everything else.
Hopefully battery tech will get to a place where a gas tank-sized battery pack produces an acceptable range.
It will likely never get to that point for chemistry reasons, but should get with spitting distance (2-3 times the size) over the next decade.
They bragged about all the expensive and complicated stuff missing from EVs such as $250 radiators, $6000 transmissions, $4000 catalytic converters, $10000 engines, $1000 exhausts, $300 fuel pumps, $100 ignition coils…
and then they added premiums to EVs so they would be about $13000 more than their similar sized vehicles.
NO thanks.
With those things missing in EV that my Golf has then EV price should be this much cheaper than my golf.
I can drive my wrangler for 70000 miles at 17MPG and $3.2/gallon for $13000 instead of getting lousy EV
I agree. Also, I am a big fan of my Ioniq 5 (the vehicle parts, at least).
Give me a car that is essentially a normal car. Charge me a few thousand more if I select the EV drivetrain (like they would if I choose the V6 instead of the I4) and I’m fine. I don’t feel like I’ve been ripped off.
The problem is when they talk about the mechanical and fuel systems removed they never mention the battery which for a usable-range EV probably costs more than the components removed (including the entire engine).
But they also added a bunch of expensive crap like giant touchscreens for low-volume vehicles. If left on default setting my Ioniq 5 will show the car and battery in an entire ~12″ screen. Who cares that much about their fuel level?
Nothing you mentioned costs anywhere near your price to the manufacturer.
Also – EVs still have radiators and a more complicated coolant system because the battery has to be both heated and cooled while the inverter and motor are cooled.
It doesn’t have to be gas-tank sized necessarily. Electric motors are a fair bit smaller and lighter compared to a gas engine plus a transmission, so even double a gas tank is probably a net improvement and triple is break-even territory.
Regarding Tesla’s insurance… I suspect that they are learning the hard way as to why all the other insurance companies charge more for insurance on Teslas.
I’ve looked into this in more detail after I got an insurance quote of CAD$4500/year on a 2014 Tesla Model S last year.
And basically Tesla’s attract a lot of drivers that are best described as ‘hooligans’ who have a higher rate of incidents. And by incidents, we are not just talking collisions, but speeding tickets, instances of property damage and other stuff.
Add in expensive parts and service and the result is higher insurance rates.
I suspect what is going on at Tesla’s insurance operation is they are getting slammed with costs as a result of high claims. And I’m also guessing Musk wants them to turn a profit while ALSO having lower rates than other companies provide for Teslas.
So as a result, they are resorting to other means to limit costs… things that can/will result in them losing their license to offer insurance.
On a related note, it will be interesting to see how the new entry-level Teslas get treated in terms of insurance. They have lower performance… so they shouldn’t attract the hooligans. And they are cheaper and have fewer features… so in theory, that should make them at least a bit cheaper to fix.
We shall see…
“Nissan Could Supply Rebadged Rogue Hybrids To Ford Or Stellantis”
Ford does not need yet another CUV… hybrid or otherwise. They already have the Escape Hybrid.
Stellantis on the other hand could use a couple of versions of the Rogue hybrid for the Dodge and Chrysler brands.
“Do you think anyone will buy EVs now that the tax incentive is dead?”
Yes given that people bought EVs way back before the tax incentive existed and when EVs were much more expensive and not as good.
The entry-level Teslas will be treated just fine.
Considering the lease incentives on the good versions put them damn close to on-par with the cost of the ‘cheap’ ones, the cheap ones will drop in value faster than an S-class running 7-series electronics manufactured by Jaguar.
Insurance will be able to total these things out for 3rd owner three series money when they sustain anything more than parking damage.
“…drop in value faster than an S-class running 7-series electronics manufactured by Jaguar”
hurtful, yet appropriate.
EVs offer an entirely unprecedented level of depreciation.
There is a sign outside of m local Dodge dealer announcing that they take Teslas as trade-ins because most dealers will not because they will lose more value between trade-in and auction than the dealers could have made n the trade.
To be honest, I haven’t looked in a while. It’s possible that you can’t even trade a Tesla in on a Hornet locally these days.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65654346/ford-escape-lincoln-corsair-dead-after-2026/
Well, there’s this news to add to the mix.
Yeah and I think that’s a huge mistake on Ford’s part.
This is the last year for the Escape
And that’s unfortunate and a big mistake on Ford’s part.
Yes / No. Discontinuing the Escape leaves a bit of a hole in their model lineup but it’s sales are less than 1/2 of what they were a decade ago as Ford added the Bronco Sport and Maverick that compete for the same buyer. Ford needs the Louisville plant for future product so US production of the Escape has to go. In a normal world Ford would just import the Escape from one of the other 2 plants that make it but that isn’t viable today with tariffs.
That is where the talks to rebadge the US built Nissan Rogue come in. It could be a cheap way to fill the gap until the Louisville plant is back up and running. Nissan has extra US capacity.
Well, if Nissan sold rebadged Rogues to Stellantis and they were sold as Chryslers…that would effectively double the number of models they have to sell.
Will demand crater for EVs after the tax incentives are gone?
In my case I was seriously considering a Slate vehicle. But without the tax credit I’m most likely not going to buy one. The big draw was to have a semi inexpensive EV that was also interesting/fun.
So now the cost/benefit just doesn’t make sense for my driving patterns (it was already a little questionable with tax credits) and I’m happy keeping my daily driver that I still enjoy.
I’m still in on for my Slate. We’ll see where the pricing ends up, but I’d be willing to maybe pay a premium to support an idea I am a big fan of.
There are definite limitations on that premium, but I’m not saying it’s a no-go (yet).
Quelle Suprise anything Musk is involved is either a puffed up lie, requires the Government to prop it up with our blue state tax $$’s or is outright fraud. I anxiously await the implosion.
Hey, didn’t the orange stain say he wants to bring back manufacturing to the US, you know, jobs for people? Yet he’s cutting all of these grants. Must not be the right grants going to the right people.
Worrying about energy is not popular with his current backers – cryptodorks and AI-holes.
(Is AI-holes a good one? I think I just made that up. If it’s good, I’d like an upgrade in my Autopian membership in exchange for the rights.)
Bringing back US manufacturing is one of the public reasons for tariffs. However, it is clear to anyone involved in US manufacturing that the administration is not doing what would be required to actually increase US manufacturing. US manufacturing employment has actually dropped in 2025 just as it did in his first term.
Trump loves tariffs because they give him personal power. He can unilaterally apply them and then wait for leaders of countries and corporation to come and bend the knee to ask for relief. Sometimes flattery and grovelling is enough, sometimes you have to support some part of his agenda, sometimes you have to pay him a personal bribe.