Should you buy an electric vehicle in 2025?

In the United States, especially, the state of the electric vehicle industry is in flux. When Donald Trump took the oath of office on January 20th, it ushered in an era of anti-EV sentiment at the highest levels of government. With the passing of the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” Congress officially strips any incentive for the industry while it continues to excessively subsidize petroleum.

So you might be thinking that now would be a terrible time to buy an EV. In some ways, you probably aren’t wrong. But the benefits of EV ownership still exist, even if some of the incentives for ownership do not.

First off, the incentives do still exist now through the end of September. So, if you’re thinking about getting a new EV soon, you’re still in luck. There are a lot of deals out there to be had, as automakers will want to move inventory before the tax incentive disappears. You can lease a Hyundai Ioniq 5 for just $199/month without even having to shop around. What’s disappointing is to get to that lease price, you need $3,999 down, but you can probably find something better. Just a little bit of searching can pay dividends on what you pay.

Secondly, even without the incentive, you’re going to save money on fuel. As of the day of this writing, the national avearage gas price for a gallon of regular grade unleaded is $3.14. That might get you around 30 miles of driving range, depending on your vehicle. If you had an EV that gets 3.5 miles per kilowatt hour, with a national average price of electricity of — rounded up — 13 cents per kWh, you’d pay $1.11 to drive the same distance.

You might live in an area where electricity is more expensive, but check with your local power utility because they typically offer a time of day discount, which makes electricity cheaper during off-peak hours. Every EV can be set to charge during the off-peak hours so that you can maximize the use of the cheaper price.

“But if have to pay $7,500 more for the car, the electricity savings will take forever to pay off.”

Yes, you might have to drive the car a bunch in order to make the loss of the credit worth it, but you also have to remember that you’re not paying as much in maintenance. There is no oil to change. Your brake pads can last 100,000 miles or more, depending on how you drive, thanks to regenerative braking. Other than tire rotations and topping off the washer fluid, most EVs have very little required maintenance. Not only do you save money, but you save time by not spending as much as the dealership’s service department.

Some EV manufacturers throw in the cost of a home charger with the purchase of a new car, and in the case of others (like Ford), they’ll also pay for the installation of that charger. That can save you $1,500 or more, depending on where you live. If you have a garage, there should be no reason to have to worry about charging at home, especially when the automaker foots the bill of getting you set up.

There are some downsides, though. In most states, you’ll pay more for vehicle registration than on a gasoline-powered car. Since you don’t pay gas tax — because you don’t use gas — the state figures it needs a way to recoup some funds for fixing the roads. EVs use the roads, so the state wants some money for EVs to do that.

Plus, if you don’t have the ability to charge at home, you might not have as great of an experience because using a fast charger like a gas station, in 2025 at least, is a sub-optimal solution. Some people do it without issues, but the real cheat code with EV ownership is being able to leave your home each morning with a full battery.

In some states, you can even gain HOV lane access with an electric vehicle.

Notice that I haven’t mentioned anything about the environment yet. While it’s 100% true that EVs are greener than gasoline-vehicles from the craddle to the grave of life cycle, and that many people get their grid power from renewable resources in 2025, the amount of disinformation out there on this subject makes it hard to distinguish what’s what. I contend that an EV, for some people, is a better overall experience regardless of whether or not its better for the environment.

For many — but not all — people, owning an EV is a better experience than owning a gasoline-powered alternative. If you’re just going to sit in traffic, or commute on a boring highway, why does it matter what is powering the vehicle? If you can save some money, have a more pleasant experience (because EVs are often nicer to drive because they’re quieter), why wouldn’t you?

It’ll be more difficult to buy an EV in the coming year or so, due to the lack of incentives here in the U.S. But automakers are going to continue to make them, and they’ll be looking for customers like you to buy them. Maybe you don’t end up buying one, but you should at least do yourself a favor and take one for a test drive before making a final purchase decision.