Tesla and Ford are racing to sell more EVs before the Big Beautiful Bill kills the $7,500 tax credit
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
- Automakers are telling buyers that if they want to go electric, now is the time.
- Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is set to kill the $7,500 tax incentive for new EVs and push up prices.
- A Ford executive told BI that rolling back subsidies often leads to a short-term surge in demand.
Tesla and Ford have a simple message for EV buyers after President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill passed — buy, buy, buy.
Automakers are racing to capitalize on a last-minute scramble from customers looking to snap up EVs before the crucial $7,500 tax credit expires later this year.
With Trump's tax and spending bill passing last week, electric vehicle buyers have until September 30th to get $7,500 off a new US-made EV or $4,000 off a used vehicle.
Tesla, in particular, is emphasizing the approaching end of the tax credit.
Its website is dominated by a banner warning potential buyers that the $7,500 credit is ending and urging them to take delivery by September 30th.
The automaker also appears to be sending out emails urging would-be customers to complete their purchases before September to qualify for the tax credit, according to screenshots posted on social media.
Analysts have previously warned that the removal of the tax credit, and the other measures in Trump's Big Beautiful Bill that target renewable energy, will raise EV prices and have a major impact on Tesla's bottom line.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk argued last November that the removal of the incentives would disproportionally affect Tesla's rivals and boost the EV giant in the long term, despite many of the company's vehicles benefiting from the $7,500 tax credit.
The world's richest man has subsequently become a major critic of the Big Beautiful Bill, arguing it will increase the federal deficit and hand China the lead in the clean energy race.
Ford, meanwhile, announced on Wednesday it would extend its offer of a complimentary home EV charger and installation from July 8 through to September 30, the last day before the tax credit expires.
"There's never a better time to buy an EV than now," Ford's head of sales strategy in the US, Stacey Ferreira, told Business Insider.
"There are lots of incentives out on the marketplace, the tax credit is still there for the time being."
Ferreira said Ford had also introduced a "zero-zero-zero" incentive program that includes zero down payment, zero payments for the first 90 days, and 0% interest for the first 48 months on select models. The program replaces an earlier incentive that offered employee discounts to all customers.
"What we tend to see in other markets that have had tax credits that have gone away, you actually see a spike of folks that are interested but maybe haven't quite made that plunge yet, that want to come in and purchase an electric vehicle," she added.