The federal $7,500 EV tax credit is gone — it ended for vehicles purchased after September 30, 2025. But that's not the whole story: automakers are offering their own cash to fill the gap, and a handful of states still have real money on the table for EV buyers in 2026.
If you're shopping for an EV in mid-2026 and wondering whether you can still claim a federal tax credit, the short answer is no — the credit that shaped EV buying decisions for years is gone. But that's not the end of the story. Automakers and a handful of states have stepped in with their own money, and depending on where you live, there's still a real discount to be had. Here's what's actually available right now, and what's just leftover confusion from a program that no longer exists.
The federal EV tax credit program — the $7,500 credit for new EVs (Section 30D of the tax code), the $4,000 credit for used EVs (Section 25E), and the commercial and fleet EV credit (Section 45W) — was eliminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025. All three credits stopped applying to vehicles purchased after September 30, 2025. As of today, no federal purchase incentive exists for a new or used EV, regardless of the vehicle's price, your income, where it was assembled, or any of the other eligibility rules that used to matter under the old system.
It's not just vehicle purchases. The federal credit for home and business EV charging equipment (Section 30C) followed a slightly different timeline: qualifying chargers had to be purchased and placed into service by June 30, 2026 — not just bought, but actually installed and usable. That deadline has now passed as well, so as of this writing, that credit is no longer available either.
With federal money off the table, several automakers have rolled out their own incentives to keep EVs moving off lots — effectively replicating what the tax credit used to do, just as a manufacturer discount instead of a government credit. Ford, GM, and Hyundai have all confirmed they're extending cash offers, and some dealers are stacking additional discounts on top.
| Automaker / Dealer | Offer | Applies To |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai | $7,500 cash | 2025 Ioniq 5, purchase or lease |
| Hyundai | Up to $9,800 sticker-price cut | 2026 Ioniq 5, trim-dependent |
| Ford / GM | Up to $7,500-equivalent discount | Leased EVs already on lots or in transit |
| Koons Motors (dealer example) | $10,000 off / $16,000 off | 2024 Mustang Mach-E / 2025 F-150 Lightning |
These offers vary by region, dealer inventory, and how badly a given automaker wants to move a particular model, so they're worth cross-shopping rather than assuming one brand's deal is representative of the whole market.
This is where the federal credit's disappearance matters least. A number of states run their own EV incentive programs that were never tied to the federal credit, and several remain funded and active for 2026.
Several of these are point-of-sale rebates, meaning the discount gets applied at the dealership rather than requiring you to wait for tax season — a meaningfully better experience than how the old federal credit often worked for buyers who couldn't use the point-of-sale transfer option.
The bottom line: The federal EV tax credit is not coming back for vehicles purchased today — that door closed on September 30, 2025. But "no tax credit" doesn't mean "no discount." Between automaker cash offers and a handful of genuinely well-funded state programs, buyers who do their homework can still knock several thousand dollars off an EV purchase in 2026. It just takes more research than it used to, since there's no longer one simple, nationwide number to point to.
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