If you've been thinking about buying an electric vehicle (EV), the clock is ticking on thousands of dollars in federal tax credits.
Legislation signed by President Donald Trump in July ends EV tax breaks worth up to $7,500 for new cars and $4,000 for used after Sept. 30, meaning buyers must take ownership of their car by then to qualify.
Analysts at Cox Automotive say the deadline is driving record sales. Nearly 130,100 new EVs were sold in July, the second-highest month on record and a 26% jump from June and 20% increase year-over-year.
Used EVs also hit a new monthly high with 36,700 sales.
"Honestly, once it was announced, it wasn't right away that we saw a lot of activity, but yeah, just in the last like two to three weeks, we're really seeing a push towards, you know, a lot of clients coming in and wanting to take advantage of, of the lease,” said David Idell, general manager at Sunset Honda in San Luis Obispo.
Cox analysts warn the tax credits are what bring EV prices closer to gas-powered cars and say in July, the average new EV cost about $55,700, but with the $7,500 tax break, that drops to about $48,000, almost equal to the average gas-powered vehicle price.
