The EV Slowdown Is American - And It's a Strategic Unforced Error

AI-generated portrait of automotive journalist Paul Eisenstein.

By EVWorld.com Si Editorial Team

There's a comforting simplicity to the claim that automakers are "walking away from EVs." It suggests a global cooling, a collective pause, a shared recognition that the world simply isn't ready. Paul Eisenstein leans on that framing, and it's easy to see why: it fits the headlines. But it doesn't fit the facts.

Step outside the United States and the picture sharpens into something far more consequential - and far more troubling for American competitiveness.

Globally, the EV transition is not slowing. It's accelerating. The International Energy Agency reports that global EV sales grew 29% in 2024, reaching 14.2 million vehicles, with EVs climbing to 18% of all new cars sold worldwide. The IEA expects 17 million EVs to be sold this year. That's not a retreat. That's momentum.

China, meanwhile, is in a different league entirely. It sold 9.5 million EVs in 2024, a 31% jump, pushing EVs to 37% of all new vehicles nationwide — and over 50% in major cities. China exported 1.8 million EVs last year, more than the U.S. produced. It controls 80% of global battery cell production, 90% of anodes, 75% of cathodes, and holds 70% of software-defined vehicle patents. This is not a country easing off the accelerator. This is a country building the next century of mobility.

Europe isn't slowing either. It sold 3.2 million EVs last year, up 14%, with EVs and plug-in hybrids reaching 25% of all new cars. Norway sits at 82% EV share, Sweden at 59%, the Netherlands at 35%. European automakers scaling back in the U.S. are simultaneously expanding EV production in Germany, Hungary, and Spain. They're not abandoning electrification. They're abandoning uncertainty.

And that's the heart of the matter: the EV slowdown is not global. It is uniquely, stubbornly American.

In the U.S., EV sales fell 17% in Q4 2025, the first major drop in a decade. Market share slipped from 9.1% to 7.8%. More than 60% of EV models lost federal tax-credit eligibility after rule changes. Nearly half of U.S. dealers refuse to stock EVs, according to Cox Automotive. Charging infrastructure remains patchy, slow, and inconsistent. Consumers feel that gap every time they consider making the switch.

And now, two new forces are converging to expose just how shortsighted this retreat has become.

First, several million leased EVs are about to enter the U.S. used-car market, the largest wave of affordable electric vehicles the country has ever seen. These are low-mileage, well-maintained, second-generation EVs — exactly the kind of vehicles that could democratize electrification for middle-income buyers. In any rational policy environment, this would be a gift: a chance to broaden adoption, stabilize resale values, and build a mass market. Instead, the U.S. is drifting into a moment where supply will surge just as policy support evaporates and consumer confidence wavers. What should be a tailwind risks becoming a missed opportunity.

Second, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — the world's most critical oil chokepoint — has sent crude prices spiking to $100–$120 per barrel. Every major oil shock of the past half-century has reminded us that dependence on global petroleum flows is a strategic vulnerability. Yet at the very moment the geopolitical case for electrification becomes undeniable, the U.S. is easing off the accelerator. China, by contrast, is accelerating its shift away from oil precisely because it understands the leverage that comes from reducing exposure to volatile fossil-fuel markets.

This is the difference between countries that treat electrification as industrial strategy and countries that treat it as a political pendulum.

Automakers aren't walking away from EVs. They're walking away from the United States.

Volkswagen is investing €20 billion in EV production in Europe and China while delaying U.S. launches. Honda has paused U.S. EV plans but is accelerating its China joint ventures. GM is scaling back U.S. EV targets while expanding EV production in Mexico and China. Ford is slowing U.S. EV rollouts but expanding commercial EVs in Europe.

Capital is not ideological. It flows to stability.

Eisenstein's framing — that automakers are responding to weak demand — misses the deeper truth. Demand is not a natural force. It is shaped by affordability, infrastructure, and policy clarity. When tax credits become harder to access, when charging networks lag, when dealers resist, and when regulatory signals flip, consumers hesitate. That's not the market speaking. That's the system failing.

And while the U.S. hesitates, China widens its lead. Europe adapts. Supply chains consolidate overseas. Software stacks mature elsewhere. Battery dominance hardens. Export capacity grows. The next generation of automotive technology — the one that will define jobs, trade, and industrial power — is being built without us.

The global EV transition is not slowing. Only America is.

If we continue treating electrification as a political pendulum rather than a strategic industrial priority, we will not simply lose market share. We will lose the future of mobility, the battery supply chain, the software architecture, and the manufacturing base that underpins millions of American livelihoods.

The rest of the world is moving forward. We're the ones hitting the brakes.

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