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Happy Friday! If you’re listening to Marketplace today on your commute in an electric vehicle, you may worry that you and your fellow EV drivers are a dying breed. But though EV sales have dropped significantly since President Donald Trump ended federal EV credits, they’re not dead yet – especially in a few key states.
We’ve got that, plus news on jobs data (low), stocks (high), and Nike (increasingly unable to “just do it”). — Rachel Kahn, temp newsletter writer | |
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Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images | One year since federal EV credits expired, what remains? |
Some government-funded discounts still exist, Henry Epp reports – but you have to live in the right state. |
Those credits, bolstered during the Biden administration, allowed customers to take up to $7,500 off the price of a new EV, and up to $4,000 dollars off the price of a used one. In the year since the GOP-led Congress ended those credits, EV sales dropped significantly. Many automakers canceled electric models and
took billions of dollars in losses on their EV investments. Government-funded EV rebates are still alive, too, at the state level. A smattering of states still have EV incentives in place, which means getting a discount to go electric now depends on your zip code.
If you live in Colorado, make below the median income for your county, and want to trade in your gas-powered car for an electric one, then you’re in luck. The state will give you a bunch of money to make that trade.
“It's a point-of-sale rebate that's up to $9,000 for a new EV or up to $6,000 for a used EV,” Edward Piersa, who oversees Colorado’s vehicle exchange program. Over 4,300 Coloradans have gotten the rebate in the past three years, he said. It’s funded by a small fee that residents pay on deliveries from Amazon, FedEx, and the like. But Colorado is in the minority. | |
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| Let’s do the numbers The S&P 500 rose by 0.7%, nearing its
record high set in August, as tepid jobs numbers eased fears about inflation. The Dow was up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq gained 1.2%.
The U.S. added 29,000 new jobs last month. “You cannot look away from that number coming in so low,” the Times’ Jordyn Holman told Kai on today’s Weekly Wrap. “Sure, we’re not seeing mass layoffs, but there is something happening where a lot of companies are just not hiring.”
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G7 member countries announced that they would release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to attempt to ease gas prices, at the behest of President Trump. Brent crude prices are still up 60% since the beginning of the year.
Retail -
Have you ever been scrolling through your social feeds or reading a Substack and come across a recommendation with a link to a product? There’s a good chance that’s an affiliate link, where the poster gets a cut of the sales – and it’s not just big influencers posting them anymore.
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Nike announced layoffs this week, and their earnings have been down for a while. Can the iconic sneaker maker bounce back?
Tech Everybody hates data centers, so Amazon is investing $1 billion into communities where their centers are being built.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY | |
“We sold our home, bought a van. I built it out, turned it into a little RV, and we've been on the road for about four months.” |
— Ryan Nichols |
Ryan Nichols was the co-owner of a custom-home building business, but when he became a father, he started to question whether the ups and downs of business ownership were worth it.
“As I sat there, rocking [my son] to sleep at night, I just felt like that situation was untenable,” he said. “I did not want to be a stressed-out, physically or mentally not-present dad.” At that point, Nichols started making plans to shut down the company – and hit the road. | |
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A McDonald's coffee cup in 2014, in the heyday of the PSL (Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for McDonald's) | Final note |
Farewell, PSL |
Like the cable-knit sweater or the midterms, the pumpkin spice latte has become synonymous with fall. But this year, McDonald’s has chosen to leave the iconic Instagrammable drink behind in favor of a line of caramel apple pie flavored beverages.
Is this a harbinger of pumpkin spice’s fall from cultural grace? Were the lattes not selling? Is McDonald's just afraid of being called “ basic” on Twitter?
For now, PSL lovers can take comfort in the fact that the fall favorite is still being offered at its ancestral home: Starbucks. | |
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