The $7,500 Number Every Other Calculator Still Shows You
Most every EV tax credit calculator online is running arithmetic on a law that no longer exists. The federal credit — $7,500 for a new EV, $4,000 for a used one — was repealed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025. It died for any vehicle acquired after September 30, 2025. Buy an EV today and the federal government contributes exactly $0.
That single date changes what this tool has to do. It isn't a credit calculator anymore, it's a two-branch question: did you get in before the cutoff, and what does your state still pay? Colorado will hand you $3,250 on a $34,000 EV. Maine pays income-qualified buyers up to $8,000. Twenty-nine states pay nothing at all. Same car, a $8,000 spread depending on where you register it.
What Actually Died, and Exactly When
Four separate credits were on the books, and the OBBBA killed all four on two different dates. The distinction matters because “the EV tax credit” was never one thing — buyers routinely conflated the vehicle credit with the home-charger credit, which outlived it by nine months.
| Credit | What it paid | Dead as of |
|---|---|---|
| §30D New Clean Vehicle | Up to $7,500 | Acquired after 9/30/2025 |
| §25E Used Clean Vehicle | 30% of price, max $4,000 | Acquired after 9/30/2025 |
| §45W Commercial Clean Vehicle | Up to $7,500 / $40,000 | Acquired after 9/30/2025 |
| §30C Refueling Property | 30% of charger cost, max $1,000 | In service after 6/30/2026 |
For context on how fast this unwound: the credit was expanded in August 2022 under the Inflation Reduction Act, made transferable to dealers as an upfront discount in January 2024, and repealed entirely by July 2025. Buyers had roughly eighteen months of the point-of-sale version before it vanished. The full statutory language is in the IRS guidance on the OBBB modifications.
Did You Sign Before the Cutoff? Then You Still Have a Claim
Here's the part almost nobody covers correctly. The statute keys off when a vehicle was acquired, not when it was delivered. The IRS defines acquisition as the moment a written binding contract was signed and a payment was made. Put down a $500 deposit on September 28, 2025, take delivery in March 2026, and the credit still belongs to you.
That creates a decision tree with real money in it. Run your own dates through the calculator above, but the thresholds are simple enough to check by hand:
- Contract and payment on or before 9/30/2025 — you qualify under the old rules. Claim it on the return for the tax year you placed the vehicle in service.
- Qualified but already filed without claiming it— file an amended return. You generally have three years from the original filing deadline, so a 2025 return is recoverable well into 2029. On a new EV that's $7,500 sitting unclaimed.
- Took the credit as a dealer discount at point of sale— it's already yours, but you still file Form 8936 to reconcile it. Skip that and the IRS can claw it back.
- Contract dated 10/1/2025 or later — there is no federal credit, and no amount of paperwork creates one. Your entire opportunity is state and utility.
One trap worth flagging: the pre-repeal caps still bind anyone claiming retroactively. A new EV had to come in under $55,000 MSRP for a sedan or $80,000 for an SUV, truck or van, with final assembly in North America, and your modified AGI had to sit below $150,000 single or $300,000 married filing jointly. Used EVs were tighter still — a $25,000 price ceiling and a $75,000 single-filer income cap. Blow any one of those and the retroactive claim is worth nothing.
Your State Is Now the Whole Story
With the federal credit gone, state programs went from a bonus to the entire incentive. They're also wildly uneven — and unlike the federal credit, most are rebates rather than tax credits, meaning you get paid whether or not you owe income tax. These are the programs worth knowing about as of August 2026:
| State | Program | Standard | Income-qualified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | Efficiency Maine | $2,000 | $8,000 |
| Oregon | Clean Vehicle + Charge Ahead | $2,500 | $7,500 |
| California | Driving Clean Assistance | $0 | $7,500 |
| Massachusetts | MOR-EV | $3,500 | $5,000 |
| New Jersey | Charge Up NJ + tax exemption | $4,000 | $4,000 |
| Illinois | Illinois EPA Rebate | $4,000 | $4,000 |
| Colorado | Innovative Motor Vehicle Credit | $750–$3,250 | $6,000 |
| Maryland | Excise Tax Credit | $3,000 | $3,000 |
| New York | Drive Clean Rebate | $2,000 | $2,000 |
Note how differently these are structured. New York's $2,000 comes off at the dealer as a point-of-sale discount, so you never front the cash. Colorado's is a refundablestate credit — it pays out even if your Colorado tax bill is zero, which is unusual and genuinely valuable to retirees and low earners. Maryland's is an excise tax credit that only helps if you owe excise tax in the first place. Verify yours against the Department of Energy's state laws and incentives database before you sign, because funding rounds close without much warning.
Colorado vs. Texas on the Same $34,000 EV
Take an identical $34,000 compact electric crossover, bought August 2026 by a household earning $95,000. Nothing about the car changes. Only the registration address does.
In Colorado: the Innovative Motor Vehicle Credit pays a $750 base. Because the MSRP lands under the $35,000 threshold, a $2,500 bonus stacks on top — $3,250 total, refundable. Add a typical $500 utility rebate for a Level 2 charger and the effective price drops to $30,250, a 11.0% discount.
In Texas: no confirmed statewide purchase incentive for 2026. Federal contribution is $0. Unless the local utility offers something, the buyer pays $34,000.
A $3,750 gapon the same vehicle, driven entirely by geography. That spread is now larger than the difference between most trim levels — worth checking before you decide the EV premium isn't worth it. If you're still weighing the switch, our EV vs gas cost calculator handles the fuel-and-maintenance side of that math, and the EV charging cost calculator prices out what you'll actually spend per mile on electricity.
The Charger Credit Ran Out Two Months Ago
Section 30C covered 30% of a home charger and its installation, up to $1,000, and it survived the vehicle credits by nine months before expiring for property placed in service after June 30, 2026. A $1,800 hardwired Level 2 install that was energized in June returned $540. The same install finished in July returns nothing.
Utility rebates are what's left, and they're the most overlooked money in the whole process — commonly $300 to $700for a Level 2 charger, sometimes more if you agree to off-peak charging windows. They're administered by your power company, not any government, so they survived the federal repeal untouched. Enter yours in the calculator's utility field. Since incentives now change the real acquisition cost more than any single option package, it's worth running the whole purchase through our out-the-door price calculator and checking what your state charges in vehicle sales tax— which, in New Jersey's case, an EV skips entirely.