U.S. Electricity Use For Electric Vehicles Increasing At A Slower Pace In 2026

Electric vehicles are still pulling more power from the grid, but growth has slowed down. Federal data show electricity use by EVs rose 8% in the first half of 2026 compared with the last half of 2025, well below the 13–24% jumps seen in earlier years. Total EV electricity use has more than doubled since early 2023, reaching nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours in the first half of this year.

The slowdown follows a drop in EV sales after federal tax credits for new electric vehicles expired on September 30, 2025. Those credits had lowered the purchase or lease cost of new EVs. With them gone, new EV sales fell 19% in the first half of 2026 compared with the second half of 2025. EVs still make up a small slice of vehicles on the road overall — about 2% of registered light-duty vehicles as of 2024, the most recent year with full data.

For homeowners, this mostly matters if you're weighing an EV purchase or already own one and are thinking about home charging. It signals that federal purchase incentives for new EVs are no longer available, which may affect the math on buying one and installing a charger at home. It doesn't change anything about existing EVs or home charging setups — just the pace at which new ones are joining the grid.