Automakers and buyers will be resetting their expectations and plans in the electric vehicle market in the U.S. in 2026. While some large companies have made quick decisions to cut slow-selling, much-promoted models from their rosters—at least temporarily—most are continuing with plans to roll out 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 generally softer retail market in the last quarter of 2025, expectations for car sales in 2026, gas-only engines included, are pretty muted, and the emphasis on affordability looks like it’ll continue beyond the new year.
Which works well for Slate Auto, an EV startup that’s backed by Jeff Bezos and several other investors. The burgeoning company reported that since the product’s announcement in April and the launch of a $50 reservation program, there have been more than 150,000 deposits placed for the all-electric, two-door pickup truck that was supposed to cost around $20,000 before various tax credits sunsetted. For its part, though, company officials are optimistic about the bare-bones truck’s prospects in a slower economy when it rolls off the assembly line in about a year.
Slate recently posted a video with its CEO answering questions from commenters about the company, which included whether a 9-foot surfboard would fit in its truck bed, why it isn’t offered with all-wheel drive, and, above all, the cost of everything. CEO Chris Barman cut to the point that reservation holders don’t need to worry about cost hikes inflicted by tariff and tax credit turmoil in 2025.
“The Slate is still affordable,” Barman said. “It doesn’t matter.”
Barman’s line delivery was significantly sharper than what most executives, even those with successful EVs and U.S. production, have been comfortable with in the wake of the headwinds EVs have faced with lukewarm demand for high-priced battery electrics in a cost-conscious economy.
Slate’s big selling point for the truck (expected to still cost around $25,000), according to Barman, is that it’s no-frills. It offers no power windows, built-in infotainment (or audio system), or hands-free driving assistance. It will offer the option to add a higher-capacity battery pack (price still to be announced) and a package to turn it into a closed SUV (estimated at $5,000). Those extras could put it well below the roughly $50,000 average price of all new cars in 2025, but it also has to appeal to a market in the mood to go back to basics.
“Slate Auto is particularly interesting because the very fact that its truck has surpassed more than 150,000 orders shows there’s a real demand for this kind of ‘utility-over-bells-and-whistles’ approach to cars,” Mike Calise, CEO of Tellus Power, an EV charging manufacturer, told Gizmodo. “It doesn’t need a massive, expensive battery to get the job done.”
New-car affordability has been a significant point of concern for the industry, economic analysts and those watching the rate of EV adoption in the U.S. Ford’s $19.5 billion writedown of its EV business in December, coupled with a tie-up in Europe with Renault for small EVs and ending F-150 Lightning production in favor of a plug-in, gas-powered range-extender EV version comes as it hedges its bets on a $30,000 electric pickup truck, also due in 2027 and using a simpler construction and less extravagant package than the electric cars of the first half of the 2020s.
“When you strip away the $5,000 infotainment systems and the motorized seats, you aren’t just lowering the price; you’re lowering the barrier to entry for the millions of small businesses and fleet operators who just need a tool that works,” Calise said. “It’s certainly still a niche product, but it provides an interesting take on auto manufacturing and allows people who have been historically priced out of the EV market a way to enter the space.”
While the Slate Truck and Ford’s unnamed EV pickup won’t have an impact on 2026 sales figures, the redesigned Nissan Leaf, reintroduced Chevrolet Bolt, single-motor Volvo EX30 and even the new Mercedes-Benz CLA EV fall well under that $50,000 new-car average mark, even if economic circumstances indefinitely delayed the U.S. launch of the sub-$40,000 Kia EV4 sedan and puts added cost pressure on Rivian’s mainstream, $45,000 R2 SUV.
“Whether it’s a Slate truck with manual windows or a scaled-down Ford, these vehicles are the answer to the affordability crisis,” Calise said. “They make sense for the person who needs to get to a job site or a delivery route without worrying about a $1,000 monthly payment.”
The Trump Administration thinks moving away from EVs and back to hybrid and gas-only vehicles will boost U.S. auto sales in an economically tenuous time. That could be true, at least in the short term, because new cars costing below $20,000 have rapidly been vanishing or crossing that line due to inflation and tariffs, and automakers aren’t usually the most nimble companies.
“Product plans can take years to shift, and with the possibility of future policy reversals from new administrations, the regulatory landscape remains stop-and-start. Edmunds Head of Insights Jessica Caldwell wrote following the announcement of new proposed fuel economy guidelines on Dec. 3. “These fluctuations also intersect with uncertainty surrounding long-term support for transportation infrastructure like EV charging, which shapes consumer confidence in adopting EV technology.”
Calise says he predicts 2026 to be the year for infrastructure rather than the cars themselves changing the EV landscape. More 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 the port built into the vehicle rather than using an adapter. And public charging network reliability will be more important than ever.
“The winners will be the ones who can get hardware in the ground and keep it running,” Calise said. “The biggest development will be the shift from volume to reliability. With the court-ordered release of [National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure] funds and the $100 million-plus Accelerator program finally hitting the streets, 2026 will focus on the quality of chargers rather than the quantity.”
While new EV sales at the beginning of 2026 are likely to lag well behind those of the same time in 2025, there will still be many vehicles reaching the end of a lease period that land on used car lots. Aided by the end of the federal program to get as much as a $4,000 discount on a used EV, hot sellers in the third quarter of 2025 were mostly used Teslas. But cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID.4, and Ford Mustang Mach-E stayed in dealer inventories for less time than a gas-only or hybrid-powered used car and cost less than half as much when new.
Tyson Jominy, senior vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, says there would be a noticeable jump in three-year-old lease returns going on sale by the second half of 2026, including a ton of Teslas. And the dealers peddling three-year-old EVs will be motivated sellers for vehicles costing a fraction of what they did when new, including discontinued cars 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 told Gizmodo. “But dealers will still want those cars off their lots.”
He said dealers will still have to figure out ways to sell any EVs with little or no incentives other than any automaker support, while many will have an influx of gas-only or hybrid vehicles on sale, and companies pushing support on models subjected to tariffs that have bigger profit margins than budget EVs. The Leaf, imported from Japan, and the Bolt aren’t expected to contribute much to sales figures for their respective companies.
There could be some other curveballs for the EV market in 2026 now that Fiat says it will sell the Topolino microcar with its 28-mph top speed in the U.S. Calise says vehicles like that are, “designed for the 95% of trips that happen within a five-mile radius of home,” but moving from an “SUV-only mindset” for new cars could open the door for more compact and affordable vehicles in automaker product plans.
Slate will still have to back up its lofty and still growing reservation list when the first orders are completed. Many buyers who put their names on the list will simply ask for their $50 deposit back. Ford reported in excess of 150,000 F-150 Lightning non-fleet reservation holders ahead of that truck’s launch, but it reportedly never made more than 40,000 units in a year.
VW-owned Scout Motors will have to answer a similar question when its EV and range-extender SUVs and trucks are expected at the end of 2027 at the earliest. The company told Bloomberg earlier this fall that it had more than 130,000 people who paid the $100 fully refundable reservation fee.
But it’s still going to come down to a monthly payment for many consumers, whether looking at new or used EVs, or a new car altogether, in 2026. And Calise and Jominy think that all buyers will be looking for ways to get that payment as low as possible, even if it means sacrificing a few features, forgoing a luxury brand, or going for a basic vehicle like a Slate Truck.
“When consumers talk about affordability, they’re often sitting around their table talking about bills and monthly payments,” Jominy said. “Interest rates are certainly one of the variables feeding higher monthly payments.”
