The automakers refocus on gas-powered vehicles amid weak demand for EVs and an end to tax credits.
In the face of stubbornly weak sales and a sweeping reversal in federal policies, major American automakers Ford and GM are changing their plans for electric vehicles.
In 2025, President Donald Trump and his administration fulfilled a campaign promise to roll back what he identified as an electric vehicle mandate imposed by his predecessor, President Joe Biden. Most significantly, Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, which will end a significant tax credit program designed to get Americans into electric vehicles.
The revocation of the program is motivating would-be electric vehicle buyers to head to dealerships and make a purchase, but the Big Three automakers are likely to see a precipitous drop in sales in the final quarter of the year. The sudden change in incentives is likely to push Detroit to scale back production plans that were years in the making.
“All the automakers that are selling … electric vehicles in this country, are now having to reassess what they thought were their very aggressive and undeniably appropriate electric vehicle plans,” Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at car search engine and price aggregation service iSeeCars.com, told The Epoch Times. “None of them are getting more aggressive.”
Ending the EV Mandate
At least three key policy changes are breaking the charge toward electric vehicles.
Most importantly, a Republican-controlled Congress passed and Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which, among other actions, reversed a Biden-era tax credit program that provided an up to $7,500 incentive to buyers who bought a qualifying, new electric vehicle and up to $4,000 for a qualifying, used electric vehicle.
The tax credit program, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, will officially end on Sept. 30.
Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the leadership of Administrator Lee Zeldin, is rolling back an emissions rule that would have been used to establish strict emissions standards for most cars and trucks sold in America starting in model year 2027.
In July, the EPA formally proposed action that would negate the so-called endangerment finding that serves as the linchpin for most federal emissions regulations. That finding, made in 2009, determined that greenhouse gases threatened the public health and welfare of Americans.
In an announcement, the EPA said the finding was used to “justify over $1 trillion in regulations, including the Biden-Harris administration’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate.”
Finally, Congress passed a resolution targeting California’s effort to establish its own strict emissions standards. In June, Trump signed a trio of resolutions that would overturn the Golden State’s plans to phase out the sale of new gasoline-only vehicles by 2035, roll back its low-nitrogen oxide regulations for heavy-duty trucks, and rescind an EPA waiver granted in December 2023 allowing the state to enforce stricter vehicle emissions standards.
Meanwhile, the majority of the American public continues to balk at buying electric vehicles. According to a May report from the Energy Information Administration, in the first quarter of 2025 only 22 percent of light-duty vehicles sold in the United States were either hybrid, battery electric or plug-in hybrid. Battery electric vehicles, which do not include any internal combustion engine elements, made up only 8 percent of overall vehicle sales.
The Energy Information Administration report cited the high cost of purchase as a consistent issue for American consumers. In March, the purchase price of a new battery electric vehicle, according to the administration, was at least $11,700 higher than the average cost of all new vehicles.
