EV tax credit in 2026: what ended and what still applies

Both EV purchase credits ended

The IRS pages for the new and used credits carry the same update.

The New Clean Vehicle Credit — up to $7,500 for a qualifying new plug-in electric or fuel cell vehicle — is not available for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025. Neither is the Previously-Owned Clean Vehicle Credit, which paid 30% of the price up to $4,000 on a qualifying used EV bought from a dealer for $25,000 or less.

The one exception: acquired by September 30, 2025

The date that matters is when you acquired the car, not when you took it home.

The IRS says that if a vehicle is placed in service after September 30, 2025, you must have acquired it on or before that date. You demonstrate acquisition with a binding written contract and a payment made on or before September 30, 2025. The vehicle is placed in service when you take possession. So a car ordered and paid toward in September 2025 but delivered later can still qualify; a car ordered in October 2025 cannot.

What can still lower the cost

A deduction, not a credit, for some new cars.

A new vehicle with final assembly in the United States, bought for personal use with a loan taken out after 2024, may qualify for the car loan interest deduction — electric or not. It is worth far less than the old credit, because it reduces taxable income rather than tax. State and utility incentives vary; check your state energy office and your utility.

Running cost is now the main argument

Compare cost per mile with your own prices.

With illustrative numbers — an EV using 0.30 kWh per mile at $0.16 per kWh, against a 30 mpg car at $3.50 a gallon — 12,000 miles cost about $576 in electricity and $1,400 in gasoline. Your own electricity rate, fuel price, and mileage decide the real gap; the fuel cost calculator handles the gasoline side.

If a dealer mentions a credit

Questions that expose an outdated offer.

1. Is the credit being quoted a federal one? For cars acquired after September 30, 2025, it should not be.
2. If you signed before that date, do you have the binding written contract and proof of payment?
3. Is the car new, and was final assembly in the United States, for the loan interest deduction?
4. What state or utility incentives apply where you live?

Not tax advice. Figures follow the 2025 Schedule 1-A. Check the current year’s form and instructions, or ask a tax professional, before you file.