They paint electric vehicles as the unstoppable future. Wall Street is enthusiastic. Automakers are investing in gigafactories. Yet here we are in mid-2025, watching these cars stall on dealer lots unless taxpayers kick in billions.
Your money makes the drive happen.
Since January, Washington has issued over $2 billion in point-of-sale EV tax credits, assisting more than 300,000 clean vehicles so far. The credit caps at $7,500 per vehicle, but Treasury figures show 90% of that benefit ends up with upper-income buyers. Think affluent households using your tax dollars to subsidize luxury rides.
Prices remain elevated. In May, the average EV transaction landed at $57,734, which puts it $9,644 above the typical gasoline model priced at about $48,090. Inventory tells the rest. EVs linger on lots for 111 days, compared with roughly 70 days for gas cars. That bloated supply forces automakers to slash production and rob profits just to keep showrooms moving.
At the brand level the cracks are visible. Tesla slashed prices to maintain momentum. Ford throttled back F-150 Lightning output. GM pushed its Ultium rollout further. Rivian still bleeds around $38,000 per vehicle, while Lucid loses hundreds of thousands on each car sold. All of them depend on your subsidies to stay afloat.
Industry projections still predict EVs could make up 10% of U.S. new vehicle sales in 2025, with hybrids adding another 15%. But that forecast rests on fragile legal scaffolding. House Republicans intend to kill the $7,500 credit by year-end, including the $4,000 used-EV credit. Senate Republicans moved faster, proposing a rollback 180 days after passage and an annual EV fee to repair roads. Remove government support and the entire structure starts wobbling.
The result? You and I end up funding a luxury-vehicle boom for wealthy families, often buying second or third cars. That burden shows up in national debt, higher taxes and interest costs. When interest rates spike or subsidies disappear, those EVs lose value and so does the mortgage you help underwrite.