Despite a sharp decline in electric-vehicle sales in the fourth quarter, 2025 was the second-best year on record for EV deliveries in the U.S, according to Cox Automotive. That being said, fourth-quarter sales were at the lowest point since the same quarter in 2022. 

The plunge in sales was expected with the end of the federal tax credit on Oct.1. The pending expiration caused a spike in EV sales in the third quarter, which helped the year’s overall EV sales come in just shy of 2024’s 1.3 million units sold and bring the market share up to about 8%.

“Rather than signaling a retreat from electrification, this shift marks a structural transition toward a market increasingly driven by consumer choice,” said Cox Automotive Director of Industry Insights Stephanie Valdez Streaty. “While 2026 will bring challenges, momentum remains grounded in market maturation: expanding model availability across price points, improving charging reliability, and continued advances in battery performance and cost.”

The EV share of total U.S. new-vehicle sales in the fourth quarter was about 6%, down from about 11% in the third quarter. Cox Automotive expects the market share in 2026 to rise to 8% “as new product enters the market, infrastructure improves and consumer confidence in EV technology continues to grow.”

Tesla remains the EV market leader in the U.S. with nearly half of all EVs sold, most of them models 3 and Y. However, the automaker’s sales were down for the second year in a row, this time by 7% compared to about 6% the prior year. 

Meanwhile, General Motors’ EV sales rose 48% year-over-year. The positive results came as company CEO Mary Barra expressed her belief in the future of EVs to a gathering of the Automotive Press Association this week. 

“Our destination is to get to the all-EV future we’ve been talking about,” Barra said. “It will take longer without the incentives.”