What’s in store for the EV sector in 2025

This year turned out to be a mixed bag for the EV transition.

On one hand, sales grew and even set new records. On the other, many automakers walked back electrification plans amid slower-than-expected demand, fiercer competition, challenges making EVs profitable, and difficulties convincing the next wave of prospective EV buyers to go electric.

Now, with EVs comprising about 9% of the new-vehicle market, the sector is entering an uncertain period amid a presidential transition that promises to yield major policy changes. Some experts say that the next Trump administration’s plans to roll back many of the Biden administration’s clean-energy policies could slow EV adoption in the near term.

To get a feel for what might be in store for the EV sector in 2025, Tech Brew caught up with some business leaders.

Go local: With the federal government likely to deprioritize electrification for the next four years, some executives told us they’ll be shifting their focus to municipalities and states that are still committed to the clean-energy transition.

“It’s now going to be cities and states that lead, and they’re not backing down,” Tiya Gordon, co-founder of curbside EV charging company Itselectric, said. “The investments have been made…And so it’s going to be far more of a federalist approach to charging than the national, unified approach that we had been able to build out through the current climate-forward administration.”

Gordon said that while federal funding is helpful, startups like Itselectric are prepared to work without government support. Itselectric, for example, is moving ahead on its target of deploying 200 curbside charging stations in seven states next year.

“In 2025, we will witness a greater shift toward the privatization of energy, driven by the reduced involvement of the federal government under the next administration,” Aatish Patel, president and co-founder of EV charging solutions provider XCharge North America, said in a statement. “This shift will extend across the energy sector, including EV charging infrastructure, leading to greater accessibility and the adoption of a more decentralized model.”

Glass half full: Despite some expected headwinds, EV sector stakeholders expressed optimism that the economic case will continue to drive EV adoption in 2025.

Juan Muldoon, partner at climate tech VC firm Energize Capital, told us that he remains “very bullish” on corporate fleet electrification because of how the financial proposition has evolved.

“We’ve gone past the ‘How does this work?’ education phase in the market. There are now more vehicles to choose from,” he said. “The case for shifting to an electric fleet, for some use cases, is actually stronger than it’s ever been.”

Instead of being driven by incentives, Muldoon said he expects EV adoption to increasingly be driven by economics and simple consumer preference.

“The political rhetoric can accelerate or delay,” he said, “but it doesn't meaningfully change the trajectory once that economic train has left the station.”

Power up: EV drivers can expect more charging options in the new year, thanks to automakers and charging providers adopting the North America Charging Standard, according to Erika Myers, executive director of charging standards organization CharIn.

Business leaders expect advancements in vehicle-to-everything and vehicle-to-grid technologies to advance in 2025, opening up new opportunities for EVs to act as mobile power sources that can serve as backup generators or send energy back to the grid.

Stakeholders also expect the EV charging experience to improve, including wider-spread deployment of “plug and charge” tech to make the payment process more seamless, additions to navigation systems to enhance route planning in an EV, and further integration of charging and software solutions in commercial EV fleets.

Ford’s commercial vehicle business, for example, is preparing to roll out more integrated software solutions that combine tools like EV pre-conditioning with tools that help manage charging infrastructure, Matt Krukin, North America head of Ford Pro software and charging solutions, told us.

“Those worlds are coming together,” he said.