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Q3 2025 marked another growth period for the U.S. electric vehicle market. Across sales, infrastructure, and domestic manufacturing, the quarter showed continued momentum as car buyers rushed to capitalize on federal tax credits that sunset at the end of September. As we begin to analyze the larger trends from Q3 for our regular Quarterly Review of the EV Market series, we wanted to share some preliminary findings from the last few months to give readers a sneak peek at how the market looks heading into the end of the year.
The EV Market
U.S. light-duty electric vehicle (EV) sales set a new quarterly high in Q3 2025. Registrations totaled 459,039 EVs from July through September, up 22 percent from Q3 2024 (376,230). That growth was powered almost entirely by battery-electric vehicles (BEVs): BEV sales climbed 27 percent year over year (YoY) to 383,140, while plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales were largely flat at 75,899. The mix underscores a market that’s not just expanding but continuing to tilt toward fully electric drivetrains as automakers increase their EV lineups.
The model leaderboard also shifted in meaningful ways. Tesla’s Model Y widened its lead, rising from 21.9 percent of all EV sales in Q3 2024 to 26.7 percent in Q3 2025. The Model 3 remained the second-best seller, but saw its share slide from 13.6 percent to 9.1 percent YoY. Meanwhile, new entrants are taking real bites out of the market: the Chevrolet Equinox EV captured 5.1 percent of Q3 2025 EV sales, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (4.5 percent) and Honda Prologue (4.1 percent) close behind. On the PHEV side, the numbers became more diffuse. The Jeep Wrangler still led the segment, but its share fell from 15.4 percent of PHEV sales in Q3 2024 to 9.8 percent in Q3 2025, while the Mazda CX-90 (7.9 percent) and Toyota RAV4 (6.6 percent) followed in a tighter pack.
Taken together, Q3 registrations show accelerating adoption alongside a market that’s becoming less dependent on a small handful of legacy EV nameplates.
The EV Charging Landscape
Back in August, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released their long-awaited interim guidance for NEVI programs. The new Interim Final Guidance (IFG) made a few structural changes to the program, giving states more flexibility in implementing their NEVI programs. Since then, infrastructure delivery continues to move from plans to pavement. During Q3 2025, states awarded $54.2 million across 53 NEVI sites. Illinois accounted for $18.4 million of that total and funded 167 DC fast-charging ports across 25 sites, while California awarded $35.8 million across 28 sites. On the deployment side, nine NEVI-funded stations opened in Q3—five in Colorado, two in Kentucky, and two in Pennsylvania. The pattern is becoming familiar: big quarterly awards paired with a steady drumbeat of openings suggests that states are gradually working through early-program hurdles and are now building momentum to create a repeatable deployment process.
The EV Economy at Large
Q3 2025 also brought continued investment in domestic EV and battery manufacturing, alongside some continued signs of retrenchment. New announcements totaled $5.38 billion this quarter, led by Hyundai’s $2.7 billion expansion of its Georgia Metaplant joint venture and Ford’s $2.0 billion upgrade at its Louisville Assembly Plant. Additional projects supported upstream minerals and components, including a $337 million lithium-boron development in Nevada and a $300 million South Carolina facility investment tied to new EV production. At the same time, several companies scaled back or delayed plans, amounting to $605 million in net reductions in Q3, an indicator that near-term expectations are being recalibrated even as the longer-term buildout continues.
Looking ahead, Q3’s record sales likely reflect some pull-forward buying as consumers moved to lock in federal incentives before the late-September deadline. With that tailwind now gone, Q4 will be the first clear read on demand in a post-credit environment. We’ll be watching closely to see whether the market holds its pace or takes a breather before the next wave of models and infrastructure comes online in 2026. Stay tuned for more once our Q3 Quarterly Review resources become available online.
