What Cars Qualify for the Clean Vehicle Tax Credit?

Cars that qualify for the clean vehicle tax credit are new or used plug-in electric, plug-in hybrid, or fuel cell vehicles that meet the IRS’s battery, price, assembly, and sourcing rules, were acquired on or before September 30, 2025, and were bought by a filer whose income falls under the applicable cap. The IRS has confirmed that the New Clean Vehicle Credit, Previously Owned Clean Vehicle Credit, and Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit all ended for vehicles acquired after that date. If your acquisition date is on or before September 30, 2025, you can still claim up to $7,500 on a new vehicle or up to $4,000 on a used one when you file for the year you placed it in service.¹

What “Acquired by September 30, 2025” Actually Means

The IRS separates acquisition from delivery. You acquire a vehicle when you enter into a binding purchase agreement; you place it in service when you take physical possession. A binding contract signed on or before September 30, 2025, keeps the vehicle eligible even if a factory backlog pushes delivery into a later month, and you claim the credit on the return for the year you actually take delivery.¹

Vehicle Types That Can Qualify

Four powertrain categories are eligible: battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid fuel cell.² The vehicle must have a battery of at least 7 kilowatt-hours, be capable of recharging from an external source, carry a gross vehicle weight rating under 14,000 pounds, and come from a qualified manufacturer.³ A conventional hybrid without a plug is out under both the new and used credits. The 7-kilowatt-hour minimum applies to used vehicles too.⁴

New Vehicles: Assembly, Sourcing, and Price

The new clean vehicle credit under Section 30D is worth up to $7,500, split into two halves. First, the vehicle must undergo final assembly in North America. Without that, no credit at all.⁵

From there, $3,750 attaches to a critical minerals threshold: a set percentage of the battery’s minerals must be extracted or processed in the United States or in a country with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement. The other $3,750 attaches to battery components: a set percentage must be manufactured or assembled in North America.⁵ For vehicles placed in service during 2026, both thresholds sit at 70 percent.⁶ Meet one requirement, you get $3,750. Meet both, $7,500. Meet neither, nothing.

Foreign Entity of Concern Disqualification

A vehicle that clears the percentage tests can still lose the credit entirely under the foreign entity of concern rules. Any battery component manufactured or assembled by an entity owned or controlled by the governments of China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran disqualifies the vehicle. That component-level ban took effect for vehicles placed in service after December 31, 2023. A parallel ban on critical minerals extracted, processed, or recycled by a foreign entity of concern took effect for vehicles placed in service after December 31, 2024.⁵ These rules substantially narrowed the list of qualifying vehicles because many EV batteries rely on materials processed in China.

MSRP Caps

Sticker price matters. A new vehicle only qualifies if its MSRP falls at or below:

$80,000 for vans, SUVs, and pickup trucks
$55,000 for all other vehicles, including sedans, hatchbacks, and coupes

MSRP here means the base retail price plus every manufacturer-installed option and accessory attached at the time the vehicle ships to the dealer. Destination charges, dealer add-ons, taxes, fees, and negotiated discounts are not counted.⁷ The figure you need is on the window sticker (Monroney label), not on the final purchase agreement.

Income Limits for New Vehicles

Your modified adjusted gross income has to fall at or below one of the following, depending on filing status:

$300,000 for married filing jointly or a surviving spouse
$225,000 for head of household
$150,000 for all other filers

You can use your MAGI from the year of delivery or from the year before, whichever is lower. If either year comes in under the cap, you qualify.³ A one-time spike from selling a home or receiving a large bonus does not automatically knock you out.

Used Vehicles: What Qualifies

The previously owned clean vehicle credit under Section 25E is worth 30 percent of the sale price, capped at $4,000.⁸ To qualify, the used car must meet every one of these:

Sale price of $25,000 or less
Model year at least two years earlier than the calendar year of acquisition (for a 2025 purchase, model year 2023 or earlier)
Battery capacity of at least 7 kilowatt-hours⁴
Sold by a licensed dealer, not a private party⁹
The first qualifying transfer of that vehicle to a qualified buyer after August 16, 2022; the same car cannot generate this credit twice⁸

The income thresholds for the used credit are lower:

$150,000 for married filing jointly or a surviving spouse
$112,500 for head of household
$75,000 for all other filers

The same look-back rule applies. Use your MAGI from the year of acquisition or the prior year; qualify if either falls at or below the limit.¹⁰

Confirming a Specific Vehicle

Two government tools do the verification work. The Department of Energy publishes a searchable database at FuelEconomy.gov listing new and used vehicles that qualified for the federal credit by make, model, and year.¹¹ To confirm the final assembly location of an individual vehicle, enter its 17-digit VIN into the VIN decoder at the Alternative Fuels Data Center. The tool returns the recorded final assembly location so you can check the North America requirement before signing.¹²

Claiming the Credit for a Qualifying Car

If your car qualifies and you bought it in time, you claim the credit on Form 8936 and its Schedule A when you file your return for the year the vehicle was placed in service. If you took the credit as a point-of-sale discount through a dealer transfer, the transferred amount also gets reported on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 1b.¹³

You will need the time-of-sale report the dealer submitted through IRS Energy Credits Online. Dealers were required to give you a copy and to file the seller report within three calendar days of your taking possession. Without that document, Form 8936 cannot be completed, so contact the dealer if you never received it.¹⁴

One caution on transferred credits: if your final income for the year turns out to exceed the MAGI cap, you have to repay the full transferred credit as additional tax on your return. You repay the IRS, not the dealer.¹⁵

1
Internal Revenue Service. Clean Vehicle Tax Credits
2
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.30D-2 – Definitions for Purposes of Section 30D
3
Internal Revenue Service. Credits for New Clean Vehicles Purchased in 2023 or After
4
Internal Revenue Service. Used Clean Vehicle Credit
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 30D – Clean Vehicle Credit
6
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.30D-3 – Critical Minerals and Battery Components Requirements
7
Internal Revenue Service. Topic B – Frequently Asked Questions About Income and Price Limitations for the New Clean Vehicle Credit
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 25E – Previously-Owned Clean Vehicles
9
Internal Revenue Service. Topic D – Frequently Asked Questions About Eligibility Rules for the Previously Owned Clean Vehicles Credit
10
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.25E-1 – Credit for Previously-Owned Clean Vehicles
11
FuelEconomy.gov. Tax Center
12
Alternative Fuels Data Center. Electric Vehicles with Final Assembly in North America
13
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8936 – Clean Vehicle Credits
14
Internal Revenue Service. Clean Vehicle Credit Seller or Dealer Requirements
15
Internal Revenue Service. Topic H – Frequently Asked Questions About Transfer of New Clean Vehicle Credit and Previously Owned Clean Vehicles Credit