Electricity used to charge light-duty electric vehicles in the United States rose about 8% in the first half of 2026 compared with the second half of 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration. In the recent past, the same six-month comparison produced growth of 13% to 24%, so the slowdown is sharp even though the total keeps climbing, to nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours in the first six months of this year.
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Charging demand is a lagging indicator of car sales, which is why the cooling shows up in power data months after it appeared on dealer lots. The EIA frames the story as one of pace: consumption is still rising, only more slowly,. Total use has more than doubled since the first half of 2023, and the article does not describe any decline in electricity demand from EVs.
The EIA numbers behind the 8%
The figures come from an EIA Today in Energy article published September 30 by principal contributor Mickey Francis. It reports that light-duty EVs used about 8% more electricity in January through June 2026 than in July through December 2025, slower than the 13% to 24% six-month growth seen in recent periods. Total use has more than doubled since the first half of 2023 and reached nearly 14 billion kWh in the first half of 2026.
The comparison is between consecutive six-month periods, not year over year, so the 8% is not an annual growth rate. It also covers only vehicles that can charge from the grid: battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles weighing 8,500 pounds or less that travel on roads. The EIA says its figures rest on a recently finalized model built on external data sources, which is why the agency labels them estimates. Conventional hybrids and fuel cell vehicles, which draw no grid power, are excluded.
Why growth slowed after the tax credits ended
The EIA ties the slowdown to a drop in sales after federal tax credits expired in September 2025. New EV sales fell 19% in the first half of 2026 from the second half of 2025, according to the article. The two credits, the New Clean Vehicle Credit and the Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit, lowered the cost of buying or leasing new EVs and both ended September 30, 2025.
A companion EIA piece on the effect of the credit expiration fills in the sales picture. Battery electric vehicles reached a record 12% of light-duty sales in September 2025, just before the deadline, then fell to 6% of sales in the first half of 2026 from 7% a year earlier. Plug-in hybrids slipped from 1.9% to 1.4% of second-quarter sales, and in the luxury segment battery electric share dropped to 14% from 22%. Hybrids, which were not eligible for the credits, reached a record 16% of sales in the second quarter.
How EIA estimates electricity use it cannot meter
These are modeled estimates rather than survey results, a distinction the agency states plainly. EIA’s estimation documentation explains that the model multiplies the number of EVs of each nameplate and model year by the average electricity each one uses, then sums the results state by state. Vehicle counts come from state registration data from S&P Global Mobility and sales data from Wards Intelligence, with recent months estimated from sales.
Efficiency comes from EPA fuel economy ratings adjusted by a daily weather correction built on Geotab research and NOAA airport temperatures, because heat and cold both reduce battery efficiency. Miles driven come from odometer data scaled to federal highway travel trends, and an EPA utility factor limits plug-in hybrid miles to the share driven on electricity. For preliminary estimates, the model does not account for scrappage or vehicles moving between states.
The series can be checked directly. EIA publishes the underlying numbers in Table 7.6 of its Monthly Energy Review, and says it will keep publishing the EV estimates there and in the State Energy Data System.
Slower EV demand and grid planning
EVs remain a small share of the vehicle fleet: the EIA says they made up 2% of all registered light-duty vehicles in 2024, the latest year available, which is why even a doubling of charging demand since 2023 adds relatively little to total electricity load. The sales share of about 7% in the second quarter of 2026 has yet to work its way into the registered fleet.
The six-month trend gives utilities and grid planners a more cautious baseline than the 13% to 24% growth rates of recent years. Whether it holds depends on sales, and the EIA data show those fell after the credits expired. A later update to the series will show whether the second half of 2026 extends the slowdown or recovers some of the lost ground, and until then the 8% stands as the agency’s modeled estimate for the first half of the year, grounded in registration, sales and odometer data rather than in meters at charging stations.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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