Sales of battery-electric vehicles in the United States came to 725,888 through September, down 30% from a year earlier, according to estimates from Cox Automotive cited by Car and Driver. The third quarter was down 40% from 2025, when shoppers were still taking a federal credit of up to $7,500 that ended on 30 September. What is still on offer ends today, 2 November, for several brands. Kia will put $5,000 toward a new 2026 EV6 if you buy it and take delivery by today, 2 November. The money has to go into the purchase; it does not apply to a lease. Kelley Blue Book lists one EV6 lease, on the Light Long Range, at $369 a month for 36 months with $4,499 due at signing, if you qualify, and the same page shows 0% financing for 60 months. Hyundai’s deadline is the same Monday: if Hyundai Motor Finance approves you, a 2026 Ioniq 5 can be financed at 0.9% for 60 months. Toyota’s offer on the bZ is 1.49% through 2 November.
Who is still selling
Toyota is the electric brand that grew. Cox counted 12,904 Toyota electrics in the quarter, more than four times last year. Hyundai sold 12,185 electrics in that quarter, just under Toyota, and down by more than half from a year earlier. In Cox’s estimates the Ioniq 5 was still third, behind Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, showing that even in a falling market, familiar models with strong dealer support hold up better than most. Kelley Blue Book’s cost-to-own model takes $15,371 off a 2026 EV6 in its first year, and Kia’s $5,000 cash is about a third of that — a national model figure, not a promise for any individual trade-in. Insurance is the smaller bill: Insurify, using quotes from its own database, puts the national average at $2,960 a year for an Ioniq 5 and $2,478 for a RAV4, a gap of about $40 a month that the $5,000 covers for a year.
Charging costs still matter
A rear-drive 2026 Ioniq 5 with the long-range battery uses 30 kilowatt-hours per 100 miles on the federal test. The Energy Information Administration’s average home price in August was 18.16 cents per kilowatt-hour, about $5.45 for those 100 miles. Paren, which tracks public fast-charging prices, put the third-quarter national average at 54 cents, about $16.20 for the same 100 miles. At 12,000 miles a year, fast charging instead of home power adds about $1,290 — which Kia’s cash also covers for a year, if you can charge at home for most miles. If you cannot plug in where you park, read the apartment and condo EV charging picture before counting the $5,000 as money kept. And have the store print the line you are actually getting, before 2 November: a rate on a worksheet is a different offer from the $5,000 cash.
