I’ve spent the last year documenting the collapse, the layoffs, and the cancellations. But here’s the number everyone missed: 94% of current EV owners say they’ll buy another EV. After everything that happened this year, that’s the story that actually matters.

NPR’s year-end EV retrospective published today runs through the familiar litany of 2025 disasters: the tax credit expiration, the Ford F-150 Lightning discontinuation, the Ram 1500 REV cancellation, and a 50% sales crash in October. But buried in the doom is data that validates what every EV owner already knows: once you drive electric, you don’t go back.

“Among U.S. shoppers who are in [the] market for new vehicles, the interest in electric vehicles actually ticked up a bit after the tax credit went away,” says Brent Gruber, who runs the EV practice at consumer insights company J.D. Power.

The Numbers That Matter

Let that sink in. The $7,500 federal tax credit disappeared on September 30, 2025. Sales cratered 24% in a single month. And consumer interest went up.

According to J.D. Power data cited by NPR:

25% of new car shoppers are “very interested” in buying an EV
94% of EV owners are likely to repurchase another EV
Interest has held “pretty consistent” despite the “turbulence” of 2025

“There’s still a tremendous amount of interest,” Gruber told NPR. “And from an EV owner perspective, we continue to see high levels of satisfaction once people do get into those products.”

For context, EVs hit an all-time high of 11.6% of the new vehicle market in September as buyers rushed to beat the tax credit deadline, according to Cox Automotive data. Then the bottom fell out. But the interest remained.

Why This Changes the Narrative

We’ve been tracking the subsidy-dependent nature of EV sales all year. When we reported on the Big Beautiful Bill killing the tax credit, the question was simple: what happens when EVs have to compete on their own merits?

Now we have an answer. Sales dropped because EVs effectively became $7,500 more expensive overnight. But interest didn’t drop because the underlying product is genuinely better than the alternative for most drivers.

BJ Birtwell, who runs the Electrify Expo traveling festival, put it perfectly to NPR: “Put a skeptic behind the wheel of a new EV, and I’ll tell you what I see: Smiles for miles.”

This is the distinction everyone misses. The October sales collapse wasn’t about demand disappearing. It was about price sensitivity. At $40,000 with a tax credit, EVs competed. At $47,500 without one, many buyers waited. But they’re still interested.

The 94% Repurchase Reality

The 94% repurchase intent number deserves scrutiny. We reported in November that actual behavior tells a different story: only 62% of returning franchise EV lessees actually chose to purchase or lease another EV in 2025. That’s a 32-percentage-point gap between stated intention and actual behavior.

The gap reflects economic reality, not product dissatisfaction. Without the tax credit, without dealer incentives, without the urgency of an expiring subsidy, some buyers simply couldn’t justify the premium. That’s not the same as rejecting EVs.

The J.D. Power satisfaction data suggests something important: EV ownership itself converts skeptics. The product delivers. The problem has been getting people past the initial price barrier.

The Global Contrast

NPR’s report includes a striking observation from Huiling Zhou, U.S. EV analyst for BloombergNEF: “On a global scale, internal combustion engine cars already peaked back, like, eight or nine years ago.”

About one in four cars sold worldwide this year was electric, driven primarily by China’s aggressive adoption. While the U.S. retreats from federal EV support, China is on track to hit 60% EV market share in 2025.

That’s the competitive context American automakers face. GM is laying off 3,400 EV workers. Ford is killing the F-150 Lightning. Meanwhile, BYD has overtaken Tesla in Europe and is executing a 2,000-dealer expansion across the continent.

As Zhou noted, if automakers want to compete globally, “they simply can’t afford to get off the EV roller coaster.”

What This Means for Buyers

If you’re considering an EV, here’s the reality check:

The tax credit isn’t coming back. En vehicle loan interest deduction Trump touted is not a replacement. Plan your purchase around actual prices, not hypothetical incentives.

Used EVs are the opportunity. We’ve documented the massive wave of lease returns hitting the market in 2026. At least 243,000 EVs will return, potentially reaching 330,000 vehicles. Used EVs are already selling faster than gas cars, averaging 34 days on lots versus 41 days for the overall market.

Satisfaction is real. The 94% repurchase intent isn’t marketing. It’s what happens when people actually live with EVs: lower fuel costs, less maintenance, better driving dynamics. The barriers are upfront cost and charging access, not the ownership experience.

EVXL’s Take

I’ve spent 2025 documenting an industry in crisis. The tax credit expiration, the manufacturing collapse, the layoffs, the cancelled vehicles. It’s been brutal to watch.

But today’s NPR report confirms what I’ve suspected: the crisis is in the business models, not the technology. EVs built on subsidy assumptions are failing. EVs that compete on actual value are fine.

The 94% repurchase rate tells me something important: once people experience EVs, they’re converted. The challenge was never the product. It was the price premium that subsidies masked.

Here’s my prediction: 2026 will see a flood of affordable used EVs entering the market. Combined with automaker desperation pricing on new models, we’ll see EV adoption actually accelerate among budget-conscious buyers who were priced out when subsidies existed but premiums were higher.

The subsidy era is over. The EV era is just getting started.

Are you one of the 94% planning to buy another EV? Or are you waiting for prices to drop further? Let us know in the comments.