Automakers and consumers will be reshaping their expectations and plans for the US electric vehicle market in 2026. While some major companies have made quick decisions to reduce slow sales, the most improved models from their lineup—at least temporarily—most continue with plans to release new, less expensive models.
And that could be the best thing for the American EV market going forward. With the end of the $7,500 federal tax credit in September and a soft market that tends to soften in the latter half of 2025, expected car sales in 2026, equipped with gas-only engines, have quietened down nicely, and the emphasis on buying looks set to continue beyond the new year.
What works best for Slate Auto, is the EV startup It is backed by Jeff Bezos and several other investors. The growing company reported that since the product’s announcement in April and the launch of the $50 reservation system, there have been more than 150,000 deposits placed on the two-door all-electric pickup truck that was supposed to cost about $20,000 before sunset on various taxes. But, on the other hand, company officials are optimistic about the empty truck’s prospects in the slow economy when it rolls off the assembly line in about a year.
Slate recently posted a video with its CEO answering questions from analysts about the company, including whether a 9-foot surfboard can fit in its truck bed, why it’s not offered with all-wheel drive, and, above all, the cost of everything. CEO Chris Barman went so far as to say that reservation owners don’t have to worry about rising costs caused by taxes and tax credit chaos in 2025.
“Slate is still affordable,” Barman said. “It doesn’t matter.”
Barman’s delivery of the line was sharper than many executives, even those with successful EVs and US manufacturing, were comfortable with after the winds of EVs faced tepid demand for high-priced electric batteries in a cost-conscious economy.
Slate’s biggest selling point for the truck (which is still expected to cost around $25,000), according to Barman, is that it’s no-frills. It doesn’t offer power windows, built-in infotainment (or sound system), or manual driver assistance. It will offer the option to add a high-capacity battery pack (price still to be announced) and a package to convert it into a closed SUV (estimated at $5,000). That addition would put it below the estimated $50,000 price tag for all new cars by 2025, but it should also appeal to the market in a back-to-basics scenario.
“Slate Auto is very interesting because the very fact that its truck has exceeded 150,000 orders shows that there is a real need for this kind of ‘bells and whistles’ approach to cars,” Mike Calise, CEO of Tellus PowerEV charging manufacturer, he said Gizmodo. “It doesn’t need a big, expensive battery to get the job done.”
Affordability of new vehicles has been a major concern for the industry, economic analysts and those watching the rate of EV adoption in America’s Ford. A write-down of $19.5 billion of its EV business in December, along with a merger in Europe with Renault for small EVs and ending production of the F-150 Lightning in favor of the plug-in, the EV version of the electric range comes as it hedges its bets $30,000 electric pickup truckand will be needed by 2027 and uses a lighter construction and a much smaller package than the electric cars of the first half of the 2020s.
“When you take away the $5,000 infotainment systems and motorized seats, you not only lower the prices, you lower the barrier to entry for the millions of small businesses and automotive operators who need a functional tool,” Calise said. “It’s certainly still a high-end product, but it provides an exciting approach to automotive design and allows people who have been priced out of the EV market a way to enter the space.”
While the Slate Truck and Ford’s unnamed EV pickup won’t impact 2026 sales figures, the redesigned Nissan Leaf is being relaunched. The Chevrolet Boltthe single-car Volvo EX30 and even the new Mercedes-Benz CLA EV fall well below that $50,000 new car average mark, even if economic conditions permanently delayed the US $40,000 launch. Kia EV4 sedan and puts additional cost pressure on Rivian’s instream, $45,000 R2 SUV.
“Whether it’s a Slate truck with replacement windows or a lowered Ford, these vehicles are the answer to the problem of not being able to afford them,” said Calise. “They make sense for someone who needs to go to a job site or a delivery route without worrying about a $1,000 monthly payment.”
The Trump Administration thinks that moving from EVs back to hybrid and gas-only vehicles will boost US auto sales in tough economic times. That may be true, at least in the short term, because new cars costing less than $20,000 have quickly disappeared or crossed that line due to inflation and taxes, and automakers are not usually very flexible companies.
“Product plans can take years to change, and with policy likely to be changed in the future under new management, the regulatory environment is still in flux. proposed new fuel economy guidelines on December 3. “This flexibility is also compounded by the uncertainty surrounding the long-term support of transportation infrastructure such as EV charging, which builds consumer confidence in using EV technology.”
Calise says he predicts that 2026 will be the year of infrastructure rather than the cars themselves changing the EV landscape. Most vehicles will accept the North American Charging Standard (NACS) port used by Tesla’s Supercharger network, including models from Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Rivian, and others, with a port built into the vehicle instead of using an adapter. And the reliability of the public charging network will be more important than ever.
“The winners will be the ones who can get the hardware in the ground and continue to operate,” Calise said. “The biggest improvement will be the change of volume to reliable. By court order release [National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure] money and the $100 million Accelerator program finally hits the streets, 2026 will focus on quality chargers instead of quantity. ”
Although new EV sales in early 2026 are likely to lag behind the same period in 2025, there will still be many end-of-lease vehicles arriving at used car lots. Helped by the end of the federal program to get up to $4,000 off a used EV, the hot sellers in the third quarter of 2025 were numerous. he used Teslas. But cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID.4, and Ford Mustang Mach-E stayed on the sales list for less time than a gasoline-only or hybrid car and cost less than half when new.
Tyson Jominy, senior vice president of data and analytics at JD Power, says there will be a noticeable jump in three-year lease benefits that will be sold in the second half of 2026, including a ton of Teslas. And dealers selling three-year-old EVs will be motivated sellers of cars that cost a fraction of what they did when new, including obsolete vehicles like the F-150 Lightning, Acura ZDX, and Nissan Ariya.
“It’s still going to be a buyer’s market for used EV buyers,” Jominy said Gizmodo. “But dealers will still want those cars off their lot.”
He said dealers will still have to find ways to sell any EVs with little or no incentives without any support from automakers, while many will have an influx of gas-only or hybrid vehicles for sale, and companies pushing support for lower-cost models that are more profitable than budget EVs. The Leaf, imported from Japan, and the Bolt are not expected to contribute much to their respective companies’ sales figures.
There may be more curveballs in the EV market in 2026 now that Fiat says it will sell Topolino microcar with a top speed of 28-mph in the US Calise says such vehicles are “designed for 95% of trips that take place within five miles of home,” but moving away from the “SUV-only concept” of new vehicles could open the door to more compact and affordable vehicles in the automaker’s product lineup.
Slate will still need to back up its high and growing backlog when initial orders are completed. Most buyers who put their name on the list will simply ask for their $50 deposit back. Ford reported more than 150,000 F-150 Lightnings in its fleet before the truck’s launch, but it reportedly made no more than 40,000 units a year.
Scout Motors owned by VW will have to answer the same question when its EV and range-extending SUVs and trucks are expected by the end of 2027 at the earliest. The company told Bloomberg before this fall it had more than 130,000 people who paid a fully refundable $100 reservation fee.
But the monthly payment will still come down for many buyers, whether you’re looking at new or used EVs, or a completely new car, in 2026. And Calise and Jominy think all buyers will look for ways to get that down payment as little as possible, even if it means giving up a few features, giving up a luxury car brand, or going for a basic Slate Truck.
“When consumers talk about being able to buy for themselves, they often sit at the table talking about bills and monthly payments,” said Jominy. “Interest rates are certainly one of the variables that provide higher monthly payments.”
