The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) and Atlas Public Policy teamed up once again to publish a year-end update to our 2025 Transportation Electrification in the Southeast Report, published in September. The updates to the state and regional two-pagers bring data current through the end of 2025.
View Updated State & Regional Pages
First, some national context: this update is published amid significant volatility in the national electric vehicle (EV) market driven by whipsawing federal policy, which is likely to continue into 2026. In 2025, the Trump Administration ended Biden-era EV tax credits, sunset EV charging station tax credits, and withdrew financial incentives that had driven a four-year boom in domestic EV and battery manufacturing investments and jobs, including across the Southeast. Additionally, tariffs, inflation, and foreign wars have created market uncertainty, increased manufacturing costs, and put upward pressure on sticker prices for all new cars and trucks, not just EVs, with the average transaction price topping out in December at over $50,000. Despite these challenges, 2025 was the second-best year on record for EV sales nationally, with total EV sales coming in just under 2024’s record-breaking 1.3 million.
Progress and Setbacks in the Southeast
The updated Southeastern regional data through 2025 reveals two key highlights:
- The Southeast reported a record peak in EV sales, with 77,770 passenger EVs sold in Q3 and an EV market share of more than 10%. In Q4, sales declined across the region to 44,000, as in other regions in the United States, after the expiration of the federal clean-vehicle tax credit. While sales fell significantly in Q4, data from December already show early signs of a shift upward toward higher sales figures.
- In 2025, companies canceled $5.5 billion in investment and 4,700 manufacturing jobs, compared with new announcements totaling $3.2 billion and 1,400 jobs, resulting in a net annual decrease of $2.3 billion in announced investment and 3,300 jobs.
Regional Progress in Sales, EV Charging, and Utility Investment
Sales
In the Southeast, 2025 EV sales grew year over year by 33%, driven by a record-high Q3, with 77,770 passenger EVs sold. This regional spike in sales mirrored a national spike spurred by the Trump Administration’s abrupt ending of federal clean-vehicle tax credits that provided up to $7,500 for qualifying new EV purchases and up to $4,000 for used EVs.
The ending of the tax credits at the end of Q3 resulted in a predictable sales phenomenon known as “pull forward sales”, which occurs when future demand accelerates into the current period, often due to anticipated price increases or incentives. Hence, the Q3 2025 sales jump occurred because consumers who planned to buy an EV later in 2025 or in 2026 purchased early to capture time-limited savings. The pulled-forward sales pushed Q3 EV market share over 10%, meaning one in every 10 cars purchased in the Southeast region was an EV.
When future sales pull forward into the present, by definition, future sales will decline. Predictably, with the elimination of the clean-vehicle tax credits in Q4 2025, EV sales declined across the Southeast, as in all regions of the United States, to 44,000. Though Q1 2026 sales are expected to flatten, data from December already show early signs of a shift upward toward higher sales figures. What is important to note is that the decline in near-term EV sales is more likely the result of pull-forward sales than an indication of waning consumer interest, which, as will be shown later in this article, remains steady.
EV Charging
Nationwide public EV charging growth remained strong in 2025, with regional growth at 24%. However, the Southeast still lags the national average in public EV charging availability per 1,000 people by 26.1%, indicating the need for increased investment to catch up and keep pace with growing demand.
EV charging growth is critical to maintaining market momentum for two reasons:
- Though over 80% of charging is done at home, affordably and conveniently, often at night as drivers sleep, the current average EV range of approximately 300 miles per charge enables long-distance travel, which in turn requires drivers have access to reliable direct current fast chargers (DCFC) along highway corridors and slower Level 2 chargers at destinations.
- Consumers continually cite battery range and charging availability as primary barriers to buying an EV. Though these concerns are sometimes more a matter of perception than reality, given actual driving patterns, the best way to eliminate this adoption barrier is for consumers to see and hear about a proliferation of public charging stations.
Utility Investment
At a time of decreasing public funding for EVs and EV-related infrastructure, a 14.2% increase in investor-owned utility investments helps maintain market momentum. Utilities have a critical role to play in making strategic investments, such as deploying charging infrastructure and preparing the grid for EV charging demand. Utilities should also set conditions that enable a cost-effective transition from oil to electricity, such as creating transportation electrification plans, developing favorable EV electricity rates, and removing barriers, such as demand charges, that can impede profitability for charging station operators. Yet, despite the growth in EV-related utility investments in 2025, Southeastern utilities continue to lag the national average investments by 65.2%.
Regional Setbacks
Perhaps the most unfortunate regional impact of the Trump Administration’s hostile stance toward EVs and policy shifts is the erosion of private-sector EV-related manufacturing investments and jobs. In 2025, companies canceled $5.5 billion in investment and 4,700 manufacturing jobs in the Southeast, compared with new announcements totaling $3.2 billion and 1,400 jobs, resulting in a net annual decrease of $2.3 billion in announced investment and 3,300 jobs.
These investments and job setbacks come at a time when the Southeastern states, through the multi-year efforts of Republican and Democratic governors and their agencies, have built the nation’s largest EV, battery, and supply chain manufacturing ecosystem, including deep investments in manufacturing siting, university research and development, and job training at technical community colleges.
As a result of this ecosystem buildout, as of the end of 2025, states in the region have attracted 41% of the nation’s private-sector EV-related investment and 35% of anticipated jobs, making the transition to electric transportation arguably the largest economic development play in the histories of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These states are now deeply intertwined with the success or failure of the American EV market. It will be interesting to see how the tensions between local economic development and national politics play out in the mid-term elections, where the strength of the nation’s economy will be on the ballot, and the expectation of promised EV, battery, and supply chain manufacturing jobs will be on the minds of many Southeastern voters.
State Highlights from the End-of-Year Report
The following highlights are pulled from the year-end Transportation Electrification in the Southeast state two-pagers:
Alabama
- Alabama recorded a peak in new passenger EV sales in Q3 2025, surpassing four percent EV market share for the first time. Despite this progress, the state still lags behind all other states in the region for new passenger EV sales.
- A $30 million EV Training Center in Limestone County is set to open in Q1 2026, as the state aims to meet the workforce needs of local automakers and suppliers in the EV battery supply chain.
Florida
- Florida leads the region in new passenger EV sales, reaching a peak EV market share of 12.8% in Q3, the only state in the region to surpass the national EV market share of 11.9% at the time. By the end of 2025, the state surpassed half a million passenger EV sales.
- In 2025, private sector and utility investments expanded Florida’s charging network by 25 percent, adding nearly 2,500 ports and leading the region in total deployments. However, fast-charging availability remains limited, at 7.9 ports per 1,000 EVs, below the regional average of 10.3 ports per 1,000 EVs. Florida risks losing funding after failing to obligate NEVI funds, with $44.6 million already redirected under a new transportation bill.
Georgia
- Companies have announced nearly $27.1 billion in net investment for EV and battery manufacturing in Georgia, with 26,430 potential manufacturing jobs. Although companies canceled $1 billion in 2025 state investments, Georgia leads the nation in announced EV investment, with Michigan second at $19.8 billion.
- In July, the Georgia Public Service Commission unanimously approved Georgia Power’s 2025 IRP, maintaining funding for the $52 million Make Ready program and a nearly $6 million Community Charging Program to support EV charging access, while also supporting a new Vehicle-to-Everything ESB pilot program.
North Carolina
- The NEVI guidance released in August removed the 50-mile spacing requirement, prompting North Carolina to reduce the planned number of charging stations along corridors from 41 to 16. The state subsequently redirected some funding to rural communities and highways with limited charging. North Carolina is the only state in the region to obligate all its NEVI funds ($109 million).
- In March, the North Carolina Utilities Commission approved a 12-month extension through June 2026 for Duke Energy’s electric school bus vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot approved in 2020, granting the utility additional time to evaluate bidirectional charging after supply chain delays and slower-than-expected technology development.
South Carolina
- South Carolina experienced the greatest growth in charging deployment, increasing the state’s fast charger port count by 67 percent. Growth was greatest for restaurants, shopping centers, and gas and service stations.
- A net decline in EV manufacturing announcements in 2025 did not deter companies from advancing their investments. Redwood Materials started critical materials recovery at its Berkeley County facility, AESC announced it will resume construction on its $1.6 billion battery plant in Florence, and Scout Motors continues construction on its $2.3 billion EV plant in Blythewood.
Tennessee
- Companies canceled nearly $5.4 billion in EV and EV battery manufacturing investments in 2025, affecting nearly 3,200 potential jobs. Ford’s EV truck cancellation at its BlueOval campus is among the largest in the industry. Instead, the site will shift to producing gas-powered trucks. This cancellation, among others, led to a net decline in investment and jobs for the year.
- After $21 million in awarded Round 1 NEVI funding was unfrozen in August, the Tennessee Department of Transportation has refocused its efforts on advancing those contracts and starting construction on sites in 2026. The state’s Fast Charge TN program released its $2.8 million second-round solicitations for charging grants on July 7th.
Looking Down the Road
There are clear indications that the national EV market has enough momentum to break through the current adverse national politics, regain its footing in the less-advantaged policy landscape, and continue to attract consumers seeking more affordable transportation. Here are four signs to keep an eye on nationally and in the Southeast:
- EV owner satisfaction is at its highest level since tracking began in 2021. JD Power 2026 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Study finds that 96% of EV owners would consider purchasing another EV for their next vehicle. High satisfaction indicates automakers have a strong base of committed EV consumers who understand the ABCs of EVs: affordable, better, and convenient.
- Meanwhile, 59.7% of new-vehicle shoppers say they are either “very likely” (24.2%) or “somewhat likely” (35.5%) to buy an EV for their next vehicle, underscoring a significant opportunity for automakers that can adapt to new market conditions and deliver desirable EVs to showrooms.
- But, only one-third of car shoppers buy new cars; the rest buy used. Used EV options have been scarce until now; in 2025, 243,000 EV leases ended, more than 3 times the number that ended in 2024, beginning a significant expansion of the used EV market. Used EVs already compete with gas vehicles on price and outperform them on value, meaning many consumers priced out of the new-vehicle market now have access to affordable EV ownership.
- The auto industry is worldwide, and global EV sales surged in 2025 to over 20 million units. While 2025 EV market share in the US hovered around 10%, globally it reached 25%, meaning that one in every four cars sold worldwide last year was electric. American automakers are rapidly losing ground globally to Chinese companies offering high-quality, low-cost EVs, posing an existential threat that could be grave enough to turn the domestic political tide back in favor of EVs.
2026 will be an exciting year for the EV market, with both significant challenges and opportunities. But as long as EV owner satisfaction remains high, consumer interest is strong, the domestic used EV market is robust, and global sales continue to expand, the EV momentum that has been building over the past decade will continue.
With consumers around the world increasingly choosing to purchase EVs over gas cars and new foreign automakers seizing the opportunity to capture market share, the biggest question for 2026 is whether America will embrace the inevitable electric transportation future and reclaim its automaking leadership role to ensure American consumers, companies, and workers benefit, or will it be dragged along reluctantly, clinging to the reins of the internal combustion past.
