# Is the US EV market dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671 "2026-02-14T20:46:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/361 "2026-02-25T04:00:02Z")
Google (ai overview) tells me that EV sales were down slightly in the US last year, which surprised me. But it also says they were up 20% world wide, with the largest increase in Europe, where they are up 33% from the prior year. And Europe has more apartment dwellers than the US. It also has much higher prices for gasoline, maybe that’s part of it. 🤷‍♀️ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/362 "2026-02-25T04:35:08Z")
I would imagine the last quarter of 2025 saw a bump in EV sales before the $7,500 Federal incentive was lost. What will be telling are the figures for this quarter. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/363 "2026-02-25T04:55:50Z")
Wasn’t it last quarter of the fiscal year that EV sales went up significantly, due to expiring subsidies, and then down from October to December? If @puzzlegal 's cite of Google’s AI is accurate, perhaps that could be the reason for the two seemingly contradictory findings. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/364 "2026-02-25T04:58:37Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > And it’s not capacitors. It’s capacitor batteries. They’re very lightweight. the idea is to lighten the weight of the vehicle making it more efficient. There’s no reason for 300 mile range for an around the town vehicle. They also charge quickly so regenerative braking will be faster/more efficient. There’s no downside to this. At which point, assuming all the tech works out, then if the capacitor batteries are lightweight, lighter and need less space, AND range isn’t an issue, aren’t you just as well as an inexpensive, shorter range EV? Why waste any weight and space for an additional failure point? And seriously @puzzlegal is right about how nice it is not to have to plan to make a gas stop every week to every other week or so. Especially if you’re chasing cheap gas around town, or (my prior case) sitting in line at a nearby but always crowded Costco. Oh, and @magiver? Still politely wondering about your capacitor filled _bumper_ suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/365 "2026-02-25T05:09:03Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Wasn’t it last quarter of the fiscal year that EV sales went up significantly, due to expiring subsidies, and then down from October to December? Yes, as I posted upthread (though that was weeks back). EV sales were up dramatically in Q3, down in Q4. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/366 "2026-02-25T11:16:42Z")
I’m very fortunate. I’ve got two two car garages. They are interconcted in an ‘L’ shape. Each one has a 220v outlet so someone was thinking ahead. What they didn’t do is put in enough 110v outlets 🤦‍♂️. So I bought a splitter for one of the 220v to turn it into two 110v. Works fine. When/if I get an EV, I just unplug that and plug in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/367 "2026-02-25T12:12:28Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And Europe has more apartment dwellers than the US. > > It also has much higher prices for gasoline, maybe that’s part of it. 🤷‍♀️ They’re generally also denser, have harder parking, have better public transit, better charger availability, a better-educated populace, more environmental concern, climate mandates, more collectivism, less of a big car and truck culture… oh, and access to the superior and cheaper Chinese EVs that our government banned in order to protect our legacy automakers. A large part of the problem isn’t just technical but cultural: American exceptionalism run amok, where a huge portion of the country blindly believes we are the best at everything and our lifestyle simply cannot be improved and any alternative is an automatic downgrade. That’s an article of faith that no amount of math will refute. It’ll take a generational change or two, and that’s only if our education and propaganda don’t revert to hur hur hoo rah, God is great and America is greater. Europe spent the last century recovering and rebuilding from the fragments of its colonialist and imperialist past, becoming far more forward-thinking, humanist, and dare I say civilized, in the process, while the US became and remained the world’s only superpower and global bully. Our dominance is now waning, but our pride isn’t as quick to fall… ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/368 "2026-02-25T13:41:44Z")
To get back to the original question, no, I don’t think it’s dead. But the “easy” part of market penetration has been achieved and a slowing in adoption is inevitable. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my wife and me going out and buying an EV, new or used, is simply not going to happen very soon. We would LIKE to have an EV, if only to be socially responsible. But not everyone upgrades vehicles every few years and many people don’t drive enough to make an EV a three- or four-year payback. If one of our cars just totally craps out in the next few days or is involved in an accident that totals it, we would be looking at used cars in the $12K to $20K range. If that includes some EVs, great! We’ll consider them. But an investment in a car is a big decision and we would have to feel confident that we were making a wise long-term decision. And, as we know, the flip-side of good performance and long life is the rarity of quality, affordable, problem-free EVs or hybrids in the used car market. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/369 "2026-02-25T15:11:32Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > If you gain 40 miles each night, you are only losing a net of 30 miles each night. That is 150 miles lost during the week. You can regain that over the weekend. If I’m at the point where I routinely stay home all weekend I won’t need a car, _any_ car, because I’ll ask someone to put me out of my misery. Not my lifestyle at all! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/370 "2026-02-25T15:30:48Z")
I have also always driven more when I’m not working than for my commute. I want enough miles left over after a week of regular commute to do stuff. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/371 "2026-02-25T16:31:02Z")
Remember you are looking both at how many miles you are driving over the weekend _and_ how many hours over the weekend your car is in your garage or driveway able to be plugged in. I also do a fair amount of driving (fixed typo - it first came out “drinking” 😀) on weekends. But I start out later and am back at home in between activities. Plus we are often together in one car with the other left at home. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/372 "2026-02-25T17:17:58Z")
Everyone’s schedule is different. But when i had a PHEV, i only burned gas on weekends. (Or maybe on a Thursday if I took a long weekend.) I don’t usually sit around the house on weekends. Some people can charge at work, too. You need to look at your own schedule and when and how you drive to decide if an EV will work comfortably for you. I really think a PHEV gives a lot of bang for the buck for a lot of drivers. Zero range anxiety, and very few trips to buy gas. And it’s an entrance ramp to full EV. It gives you a really solid sense of how many miles you can comfortably drive on EV. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/373 "2026-02-25T18:07:39Z")
Agreed, driving a PHEV for a while won’t _cure_ range anxiety for people used to driving a normal ICE vehicle, but you’ll find the driving experience to be superior in many ways, and a lot less frustrations. Our biggest issue in the first six months was worrying that we’d end up with _stale gas_ because we took almost no trips until the end of that period and 95+% of our driving was all electric. We intend to drive both of our PHEVs until they’re done as vehicles ( knock on wood ) so figure at least 10 years or more, but we have no concerns about reverting to our original plan at that point: One longer range BEV and one PHEV - and the latter being _mostly_ because of my elderly father’s ongoing health issues leaves me wanting a vehicle that can just get the drive done with the fewest possible delays where it’s faster to drive 630 miles than try to get a flight. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/374 "2026-02-25T21:48:52Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Yet we have on this very board, many people bringing edge cases, reasons it can’t work for them, and on and on. How do we convince our own enlightened board that they can work for a large fraction of us? I don’t think there are many if any people on this board who have shut the door on ever having an EV under any circumstances, but there are a large number of people who are saying it doesn’t work for them in their circumstances at this time, or they don’t want to be beta testers for what is still the first generation of EV technology. Dismissing all of their concerns as “edge cases” won’t convince them. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/375 "2026-02-25T22:15:08Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > but there are a large number of people who are saying it doesn’t work for them in their circumstances at this time Perhaps so, but there are posters in this thread who do make it about themselves. That is, no matter what point is brought up, will re-iterate ad nauseum and ad infinitum, that whatever salient point is not applicable to them specifically. While, technically, that is not shutting the door on EVs, the way it comes across is “EVs don’t work for me now, and I don’t care if they work or don’t work for anybody else”, which isn’t terribly helpful, either. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/376 "2026-02-25T22:50:05Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Perhaps so, but there are posters in this thread who do make it about themselves. That is, no matter what point is brought up, will re-iterate ad nauseum and ad infinitum, that whatever salient point is not applicable to them specifically. This is what I see. And it seems to be across all EV threads. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/377 "2026-02-26T02:17:12Z")
Contrary to some claims that this board has a liberal bias, it’s actually rather conservative–in the sense of being resistant to change. And the change of the paradigm of automobile use from liquid fuel to electricity is radically different. I don’t mean this in any pejorative sense–it is hard to wrap your head around changes like this. Then trying to convert between your own experiences to those of the country as a whole, too. Being skewed heavily toward older ages makes it even more difficult. The US EV market isn’t dead; it’s rapidly adjusting as the technology and vehicle market are both changing. Compare to the telephone market switching from household landlines to smart phones. Slow evolution (remember when owning your house phone instead of renting it was a big deal), then suddenly everyone has their own personal smart phone. Except for the oldies who have their own reasons to never have a cell phone, and never will. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/378 "2026-02-26T02:23:06Z")
To be fair, the reason some of us are conservative about buying an EV is simply that we don’t buy new vehicles very often. Certainly I don’t. I’ve had my current car for 15.5 years and have no immediate plans to replace it. Switching to a smart phone is a much smaller investment. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/379 "2026-02-26T02:25:05Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Oh, and @magiver? Still politely wondering about your capacitor filled _bumper_ suggestion. What about it? It’s dead space. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671/380 "2026-02-26T02:34:56Z")
As far as I’ve noticed, cars really don’t have bumpers any longer, and even the ones that do have them filled with foam, as they’re part of the crumple zone. Putting solid components like a battery would work against that purpose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-us-ev-market-dead/1027671.md?page=20)