EV Sales Rise In US Despite Trump’s War On EVs

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Ordinary German citizens went about their daily lives when the Nazis were in power, and now we here in the US are getting a taste of what that’s like. The President of the United States is openly treasoning the US into the arms of Vladimir Putin, enabling the Russian dictator to continue his murderous attacks on Ukraine. Don’t say we weren’t warned…10 years ago…But I digress. Trump’s war on EVs is the topic for today, and it’s a war he is losing. After all, the numbers don’t lie.

Losing The War On EVs

Trump and the Republican Party set the electric mobility movement in the US back on its heels last year, when they exercised their majority control of the White House and Congress to pass the 2025 “OBBA” tax bill. Still, the effort was only a partial success.

One indication of a future revival has been a loud hum of activity in the public EV charging industry, which kept adding thousands of new charging stations hand over fist all throughout Trumps’ second term in office, OBBA or not. Also helping to keep things moving along, a veritable torrent of off-lease, used EVs sailed into the auto market by early 2026.

CleanTechnica has been among the auto industry observers optimistically anticipating that the US market would reset itself for a fresh wave of growth after the dust of the OBBA settled (see more EV sales background here). A new report from the auto industry numbers-keeper Kelly Blue Book now puts some hard numbers behind that outlook. “Americans bought more EVs last quarter than they have at any point since the end of the federal EV tax credit,” KBB summarized on October 16.

“EVs remained just 6.5% of the new cars sold in the U.S., but that’s up from 5.8% last quarter,” KBB elaborated, citing Tesla, Toyota, and Lexus as the main drivers of the upward trend, with Rivian and Subaru also coming in strong (that’s not a typo, that’s Subaru).

Slate Auto Occupies Former Tesla Sales Site

As one indication that EVs are here to stay, some US startups kept their electrification plans in motion even as others cut back (here’s another example). The Jeff Bezos-backed venture Slate Auto is among them. Last year Slate opened its factory in Warsaw, Indiana, and now the automaker has taken another step towards hitting the market with a stripped down, fully customizable electric pickup truck that starts at just $26,400.

Last week, Slate announced the grand opening of its new showroom in Chicago with first ride-alongs for the general public, too. “We’re setting up shop in Chicago. Come check out the truck in person, see accessories and wraps, and skip the dealership pressure,” the company announced on BlueSky and other social media.

“The first Slate Experience Center is open starting today. Book a demo ride for this weekend,” Slate continued (here’s the booking link).

In an interesting turn of events, the Slate showroom is located at 1053 West Grand Avenue in Chicago, reportedly the site of Tesla’s first store outside of California, which opened back in 2009.

Ford And GM Really Are Resetting

The iconic automakers Ford and General Motors laid out big EV manufacturing plans for the future back in August of 2025, and those plans are still in the works even though both automakers sharply cut back on their present-day EV lineup after the OBBA kicked in last year, prematurely killing off the federal EV tax credit and sending EV sales into what appeared to be a death spiral.

Not so fast. Throughout this year, Ford has kept the publicity mill churning for it forthcoming Fathom electric pickup truck at the relatively affordable price point of just under $30,000. Meanwhile, GM has been pumping up the action on the battery side, carrying through with plans to introduce new LMR (lithium manganese-rich) energy storage technology to the motoring world.

This week, GM re-affirmed its plans to manufacture the new EV batteries in Tennessee, in a partnership with LG Energy Solution under the Ultium Cells branding.

“This is expected to make Ultium Cells the first manufacturer globally to commercially produce this next-generation technology, positioning GM at the forefront of bringing the technology to market in future electric vehicles,” the automaker enthused in a press statement.

As described by GM, the idea is to bring down the cost of EVs without compromising on range. The up-and-coming LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) formula already provides a less costly alternative to the familiar lithium-ion EV battery, but GM anticipates that LMR batteries will top the LFP formula with a 33% improvement in energy density, which generally translates into more mileage per charge.

Ride Hailing And Robotaxis Gild The EV Sales Lily

The taxi business is also contributing its share to the revival of EV sales. In addition to the rising robotaxi industry, ride hailing fleets are moving towards electrification. The latest news on that score involves Vinfast, the ambitious Vietnamese startup that started up with the goal of putting Vietnam on the global EV map.

Vinfast has a lot of catching up to do, but they are moving fast. On October 13, the company announced that the Vietnamese mobility firm Green SM is launching an all-electric taxi service in Los Angeles, the latest in a growing global network.

Green SM focuses like a thousand points of light on Vinfast Model 8 EVs, and the company has ordered up 500 of them to kickstart its Los Angeles operation.

To sweeten the launch, Green SM is offering a package of new customer incentives including half-off fares for up to $12.00 USD on their first five trips, and 10 “Green Pass” discount vouchers that offer 30% off fares of up to $10.00.

We Were Warned…

Yes, it’s true. On the evening of October 19, 2016, Hillary Clinton called then-candidate Trump “Putin’s puppet” to his face during a live television debate, and she had the receipts.

“It’s pretty clear you won’t admit…that the Russians have engaged in cyberattacks against the United States of America, that you encouraged espionage against our people, that you are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do, and that you continue to get help from him because he has a very clear favorite in this race,” Clinton said.

That was just the short list. Much water has gone under the bridge over the past 10 years. In more recent news, last spring credible sources charged that Russia is providing Iran with intel on US military targets in the Middle East.

As of this week, almost two dozen service members have been reported killed and 865 injured in the Iran conflict, while the Commander-in-Chief openly threatens judges here at home and plots to take over the 2026 midterm elections by force if not by trickery. You can’t make this stuff up…

PSA: To check the status of your voter registration or get in touch with your local elections officials, use a reputable elections hub like Vote.org (a project of the League of Women Voters). Do not use “VoteSafe.org,” which is a voter data collection operation funded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s America PAC.

Image: The US EV start up Slate Auto has opened for business in Chicago, in yet another indication that the war on EVs is fizzling out (screenshot courtesy of Slate Auto).