Ford’s EV Sales Plunge. Now We Know What the Tax Credit Meant.

A Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Key Points

• Ford’s total U.S. vehicle sales increased by 2% year over year in October, a slowdown from the 7% year-to-date growth.
• Ford’s electric vehicle sales decreased by 25% year over year in October. The company sold 4,709 units after the federal tax credit ended.
• Ford’s stock was down 1.2% in early trading, while Rivian and Lucid, other EV makers, saw declines of 0.8% and 2.1%.

Electric-vehicle sales are going to finish the year terribly, if Ford Motor’s October results are any indication.

Monday, Ford released monthly sales for the U.S., saying it sold 175,584 vehicles, up about 2% year over year. Any growth is good, but the rate of increase has slowed down. Coming into October, Ford’s U.S. sales were up about 7% year to date.

F-Series sales were up about 1% year over year. That isn’t bad, but coming into October, sales of the trucks were up about 13% year over year. Ford is also dealing with a significant supplier disruption after a fire at a Novelis plant in New York state.

The real story of the month isn’t trucks or gasoline-powered cars, though. Ford sold 4,709 EVs, down 25% year over year, showing the effect of the end of the $7,500 federal EV purchase tax credit. October was the first month without the credit.

In September, Ford sold 11,712, up 85% year over year. Overall, EV sales accounted for a record 12% of new car sales in the U.S., though no one thought that was sustainable. Investors expected a fourth-quarter decline.

Ford stock was down 1.2% in early trading at $12.98, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4% and flat, respectively. Still, Ford shares are up about 30% year to date.

Ford doesn’t make money selling EVs, so falling EV sales aren’t as bad for the stock as a decline in sales of traditional autos would be. What’s more, the effect of tariffs on the company has been better than feared; Ford stock traded below $9 in April, after President Donald Trump unveiled his flurry of tariffs on U.S. trading partners.

News about EV sales matters for Tesla stock, but shares were up 0.8% in early trading. These days, Tesla investors are thinking more about AI opportunities tied to robo-taxis and robots than they are about demand for cars.

Shares of EV makers Rivian Automotive and Lucid , which depend more than Tesla does on vehicle sales, were down 0.8% and 2.1%, respectively.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com