And this could be the best thing for the US EV market going forward. With the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit in September and a generally soft retail market in the last quarter of 2025, expectations for car sales in 2026, including those with only gas engines, are quite low, and the emphasis on affordability looks like it will continue beyond the new year.
Which works well for Slate Auto, an EV startup Backed by Jeff Bezos and many other investors. The growing company reported this Since the product announcement and launch of the $50 reservation program in April, more than 150,000 deposits have been made for the all-electric, two-door pickup truck, which was supposed to cost around $20,000 before various tax credits were eliminated. However, for their part, company executives are optimistic about the bare-bones truck’s prospects in a slowing economy when it rolls off the assembly line in about a year.
Slate recently posted a Video Its CEO answered commentators’ questions about the company, including whether a 9-foot surfboard would fit in the bed of its truck, why it’s not offered with all-wheel drive, and, above all, the cost of everything. CEO Chris Berman emphasized that reservation holders don’t have to worry about rising costs due to tariff and tax credit turmoil in 2025.
“Slate is still affordable,” Berman said. “It doesn’t matter.”
Berman’s line delivery was much faster than most executives, even those with successful EVs and US production, were comfortable with given the headwinds facing EVs due to low demand for high-priced battery electrics in a cost-conscious economy.
According to Berman, the slate’s big selling point for the truck (it’s still expected to cost around $25,000), 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 a high-capacity battery pack (price yet to be announced) and the option to add a package to turn it into a closed SUV (estimated at $5,000). Those extra features could keep it well below the roughly $50,000 average price of all new cars in 2025, but it would also have to appeal to a market in the mood to get back to basics.
“Slate Auto is particularly interesting because the fact that its truck has surpassed 150,000 orders shows that there is real demand for this kind of ‘utility-over-bells-and-whistles’ approach to cars,” CEO Mike Callis telus powerEV charging manufacturer told gizmodo, “It doesn’t require a huge, expensive battery to accomplish this task.”
The affordability of the new car has been a key issue of concern for the industry, economic analysts and those tracking EV adoption rates in the U.S. Ford $19.5 billion writedown in its EV business in December, with a tie-up with Renault in Europe for small EVs Ending production of F-150 Lightning On the plug-in side, a gas-powered range-extender EV version arrives as it hedges its bets $30,000 electric pickup truckAlso 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 remove $5,000 of infotainment systems and motorized seats, you’re not just lowering the price; you’re lowering the barrier to entry for millions of small businesses and fleet operators who just need a device that works,” Callis said. “It’s certainly still a niche product, but it provides an interesting perspective on auto manufacturing and gives an opportunity for people to enter this sector that has historically been priced out of the EV market.”
While the slate truck and Ford’s unnamed EV pickup will have no impact on 2026 sales figures, the redesigned Nissan Leaf has been reintroduced chevrolet boltThe single-motor Volvo EX30 and even the new Mercedes-Benz CLA EV fall under the $50,000 new car average mark, even if economic conditions have indefinitely delayed U.S. launches priced below $40,000. Kia EV4 Sedan and puts additional 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,” Callis said. “They are useful for someone who needs to get to a job site or delivery route without having to worry about a $1,000 monthly payment.”
The Trump administration believes that moving away from EVs and back to hybrid and gas-only vehicles will boost U.S. auto sales in economically tough times. That may be true, at least in the short term, as new cars priced under $20,000 are rapidly disappearing or crossing that line due to inflation and tariffs, and automakers typically aren’t the most nimble companies.
“It could take years to change product plans, and with the possibility of future policy changes from the new administration, the regulatory landscape remains intermittent,” Edmunds head of insights Jessica Caldwell wrote after the announcement. New proposed fuel economy guidelines On 3rd December. ,These fluctuations also combine with uncertainty over long-term support for transportation infrastructure such as EV charging, which shapes consumer confidence in the adoption of EV technology.
Kallis says he anticipates 2026 will be the year of infrastructure rather than cars that change the EV landscape. More vehicles will accept the North American Charging Standard (NACS) port used by Tesla’s Supercharger network, including Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Rivian and other models, with the port built into the vehicle rather than using an adapter. And the reliability of public charging networks will be more important than ever.
“The winners will be those who can get the hardware in the ground and keep it running,” Callis said. “The biggest development will be the shift from volume to reliability. Releases will be accompanied by court orders.” [National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure] Funds and an accelerator program worth more than $100 million finally hit the streets, 2026 will focus on the quality of chargers rather than quantity.
While new EV sales in early 2026 are likely to lag significantly behind the same time in 2025, there will still be many vehicles reaching the end of lease periods that will land on used car lots. Aided by the end of a federal program to get up to $4,000 in rebates on used EVs, hot sellers were mostly due in the third quarter of 2025. used teslasBut cars like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Volkswagen ID,4 and Ford Mustang Mach-E stayed in dealer inventory for less time than a gas-only or hybrid-powered used car and cost less than half the price when new,
Tyson Jomini, senior vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, says there will be a significant bump in lease returns for three-year-olds that go on sale by the second half of 2026, including one-ton Teslas. And dealers selling three-year-old EVs will be motivated sellers of vehicles that cost much less than 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,” Jomini pointed out. gizmodo“But dealers will still want to get those cars off their lots,”
He said dealers will still have to find ways to sell any EV 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 are emphasizing support on models subject to tariffs, which have larger profit margins than budget EVs. The Leaf and Bolt, imported from Japan, are not expected to contribute much to the sales figures of their respective companies.
There may be some other curveballs for the EV market in 2026, now that Fiat says it will sell it The Topolino microcar with its 28-mph top speed In the US, Callis says such vehicles are “designed for 95% of trips that take place within a five-mile radius of home,” but moving beyond an “SUV-only mentality” for new cars could open the door to more compact and affordable vehicles in automaker product plans.
Slate will still need to support its high and growing reservation list once the first order is completed. Many buyers who put their name on the list will simply ask for their $50 deposit back. Ford reported more than 150,000 F-150 Lightning non-fleet reservation holders ahead of that truck’s launch, but it reportedly never built more than 40,000 units in a year.
VW-owned Scout Motors It will have to answer a similar question when its EV and range-extender SUVs and trucks are expected to arrive in late 2027 at the earliest. The company told bloomberg Before this fall it had more than 130,000 people who paid a $100 fully refundable reservation fee.
But it’s still going to come down to monthly payments for many consumers, whether they’re looking at a new or used EV, or a new car altogether in 2026. And Callis and Jomini think all buyers will be looking for ways to get that payment as low as possible, even if that means sacrificing some features, skipping a luxury brand, or going for a basic vehicle like a slate truck.
“When consumers talk about affordability, they often sit around their table and talk about bills and monthly payments,” Jomini said. “Interest rates are definitely one of the factors that drive higher monthly payments.”
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