While Americans scramble to understand the sudden expiration of federal EV tax credits, Google’s AI search summaries haven’t caught up with reality. The tech giant’s AI continues to dish out information as if those sweet tax breaks still exist. They don’t. Not anymore.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act effectively killed EV tax credits on September 30, 2025. No more point-of-sale discounts. No more $7,500 off your shiny new Tesla. The money printer stopped. But Google’s AI didn’t get the memo.
Consumers relying on these AI summaries are in for a rude awakening when they waltz into dealerships expecting thousands off their purchase price. Sorry, folks. That ship has sailed. The discrepancy between what Google tells you and actual tax law is creating mass confusion among potential EV buyers.
Trusting AI with your tax breaks? Good luck at the dealership when fantasy meets financial reality.
Even if you could somehow qualify, the restrictions were already tight. Income caps limited eligibility to $150,000 for singles and $300,000 for joint filers. Used EVs had even stricter income requirements.
Then there were the vehicle price caps: $55,000 for cars, $80,000 for larger vehicles. Plus all those complicated battery sourcing rules. What a headache.
The temporary reprieve until January 2027 only applies to manufacturers who haven’t sold 200,000 clean vehicles. That excludes all the major players—Tesla, GM, Ford, Hyundai, Kia. Gone.
If you’re banking on a Rivian or Lucid, maybe. But those aren’t exactly budget options, are they?
For those who purchased before the September deadline, you can still claim credits on your 2025 tax return. Small consolation.
The real problem is trusting AI to understand nuanced, rapidly changing tax policy. It can’t. And now thousands of consumers are making financial decisions based on phantom incentives that evaporated weeks ago.
But hey, at least the AI responses sound confident when they’re completely wrong.
The credit was originally promoted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration before its untimely demise.
This policy change comes after tax credits helped the EV market achieve record sales with 97% of leases and 81% of new purchases utilizing the incentives in 2024.
References
- https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/ev-tax-credit
- https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/how-do-electric-car-tax-credits-work/
- https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/used-ev-tax-credits
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hYlxRoFPBM
- https://www.doverchevrolet.com/ev-tax-credit-changes.htm
- https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/irs/tax-law-and-policy/one-big-beautiful-bill-vehicle-tax-credits/
- https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/12/136581-federal-ev-tax-credit-gone-no-one-told-google-ai
- https://www.irs.gov/clean-vehicle-tax-credits
- https://electrek.co/guides/ev-federal-tax-credit/
