A year ago, the conventional wisdom was that EV sales would fall off a cliff once the federal tax credits went away. They did dip. But the latest numbers tell a more interesting story: U.S. EV sales have now grown for three quarters in a row, and the market is, in the words of Cox Automotive’s Stephanie Valdez Streaty, “finding its footing again.”
The numbers
According to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book estimates, Americans bought about 262,600 new EVs in the third quarter of 2026, roughly 6% of all new vehicles sold and up about 6% from the second quarter.
That’s still well below the third quarter of 2025, when sales hit about 434,000. But that quarter was a rush: buyers raced to grab the federal EV credits before they ended on September 30, 2025, pulling a lot of future purchases forward. Measured against the slump that followed, the trend is clearly pointing back up.
Who’s buying, and what they’re buying
- Tesla is still the giant. It sold about 144,000 EVs in the quarter, more than every other brand combined, even though its sales were down about 20% from a year earlier.
- The rest of the field is growing up. Rivian, Toyota, Cadillac, and Hyundai each sold more than 12,000 EVs in the quarter.
- Refreshes are working. Toyota’s bZ and Lexus RZ sales roughly doubled after updates that added bigger batteries, faster charging, and Tesla-style (NACS) charging ports.
Analysts point to two forces behind the rebound: EV prices have become more competitive, and higher gas prices have nudged more drivers to take a second look.
What it means for charging at your property
Every one of those 262,000 new EVs needs somewhere to plug in, and most charging happens where cars already sit for hours: at home, at work, and at the places people spend their day. A few takeaways if you own or manage a commercial property:
- Demand doesn’t wait for perfect timing. Employees, tenants, and customers are buying EVs right now, incentives or not. The properties that already have reliable charging are the ones they’ll choose.
- Plan for two plugs. With automakers like Toyota moving to the NACS port, new vehicles on your lot will be a mix of NACS and the older J1772/CCS connectors for years. Equipment that supports both, natively or through adapters, keeps every driver covered.
- Reliability is the real amenity. A charger that’s down is worse than no charger at all. Monitoring and maintenance matter as much as the hardware.
The bottom line
The EV market didn’t disappear when the tax credits did. It took a step back, and it’s been climbing ever since. If you’ve been waiting to see where things settle before adding charging, the data says the drivers are already here.
Talk to EvolvedEV about charging that fits your site and your drivers, and ask about Evolved360, our monitoring and maintenance program that keeps it online.
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