California’s ambitious statewide electric bicycle incentive program is officially dead – and it didn’t even get a funeral. After years of buildup, delays, and surging public interest, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has quietly ended the program, rolling the remaining $17 million of the original $30 million budget into its “Clean Cars 4 All” initiative without even making an official announcement.

The California E-Bike Incentive Project was originally hailed as a groundbreaking effort to make electric bikes affordable for low-income residents. Vouchers – not rebates – were designed to let buyers walk into a participating shop and ride out without covering the full price upfront. Base vouchers were worth $1,000, with up to $2,500 available for those purchasing cargo or adaptive e-bikes in priority communities. It was a model that other states were watching closely.

But from the outset, the program was plagued by setbacks. Years of delays meant the first vouchers weren’t distributed until late 2024, and even then, only after a chaotic launch that saw the website crash under the weight of tens of thousands of applicants vying for just 1,500 vouchers. A second launch attempt in April 2025 failed completely, locking out eligible users. While a final distribution round in May went more smoothly, an estimated 90% of eligible applicants were turned away due to limited supply.

To make matters worse, the program’s administrator, Pedal Ahead, came under fire for questionable practices in San Diego, further undermining confidence.

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Now, with no formal announcement or update on the program’s official website, CARB has quietly absorbed the funds into its Clean Cars 4 All program.

Electrek’s Take

This is an enormous letdown.

The California E-Bike Incentive Project had the potential to reshape car-heavy communities by giving low-income Californians access to clean, affordable micromobility. Instead, it was starved by mismanagement and then cannibalized to prop up car-centric policy.

It’s not that electric cars don’t deserve support, but this move reflects a broader failure of imagination. If we want a future with fewer cars, not just cleaner ones, then we need to start funding real alternatives. This was a huge missed opportunity to invest in a more livable California.

via: Streetsblog

The Kia EV4 will be “delayed until further notice” in the US, according to a Kia rep and reported by InsideEVs. Kia said the change is because “market conditions for EVs have changed.”

The EV4 was expected to be released in 2026 at a price in the ~$30k range, entering Kia’s model like alongside the existing EV3 as the smaller, more affordable electric models below the EV6 and EV9. The EV4 will have the style of a boxy sedan, while the EV3 is a small SUV.

The EV3 is already available in Korea, Europe and other territories, but has not made it to the US (and may not ever).

The EV4 is not on the roads yet, but its release is imminent. And it seemed likely to make its way to the US. We saw the concept EV4 at the LA Auto Show in 2023, and the model was officially unveiled in the US at the New York Auto Show this April.

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Bringing that car to a US auto show with an official reveal suggested that the US would get access to this smart, more affordable Kia. And Kia said that the car would hit US roads in early 2026, which would have been just a few months from now.

Kia abruptly “delays” EV4’s introduction to the US

But now, a Kia rep has confirmed that the car won’t come to America after all, at least until further notice. Kia gave a statement to InsideEVs, saying:

“Kia’s full range of vehicles offers meaningful value and inspiring performance to customers. However, as market conditions for EVs have changed, the release of the upcoming EV4 electric sedan will be delayed until further notice.” 

We reached out to Kia to confirm, and received the same statement back.

The reversal is a bit of a surprise, and we’re not sure why we’re hearing this today in particular. Heck, we wrote a story about the EV4 GT’s interior just a couple hours ago.

So, unfortunately it looks like Americans will have one less potential choice to get away from the land-yacht disease currently infecting our populace. For what it’s worth, the EV4 is still listed as “coming 2026” on Kia Canada’s website.

We’ve seen models get delayed suddenly before, and while Kia did not directly say that the model will never come to the US, the fate of other “delayed” EV models in the past does not give us significant hope. Usually, a “delay” like this ends up meaning that the car just won’t ever make it to US roads (see: VW ID.7, Gen 2 Kia Soul EV, Ram 1500 EV, and others).

While Kia did not state a specific reason for the reversal, it’s not hard to guess what some of the influences are.

Electrek’s Take – EV4 likely delayed due to US policy changes favoring higher costs, dirty air

Since the EV4’s April reveal, republicans have continued their all-out assault on clean air, as in July a republican Congress passed a $4 trillion giveaway to wealthy US elites which also inflated the price of EVs by $7,500. Regulatory changes focusing on raising your costs and making your air dirtier are in progress, trying to force more gasoline and pollution on Americans and restricting access to cleaner, better EVs.

In addition to these actions opposing clean air, republicans are raising your costs in other ways as well. Unwise tariffs on basically every country in the world, which have been haphazardly implemented (due to the ignorance of the person unconstitutionally implementing them) and seem to change day-by-day, have increased prices for Americans and made business more difficult.

These tariffs would apply to the EV4. While Kia just started EV4 production in Europe, the US model would have come from Kia’s Korean factories. The ignoramus squatting in the US Oval Office did just ink a trade deal with Korea today, but given the lack of follow-through on previous trade deals, we wouldn’t be surprised if the terms of that change.

The difficulty of doing business in America has been in focus especially for South Korean firms, after a high-profile ICE raid at a Hyundai plant in construction in Georgia, which saw South Korean businessmen with visas detained and resulted in delayed construction on the plant and a swift popular pushback against US products in Korea. Kia and Hyundai are partner companies with a complex corporate relationship, so it stands to reason that Kia’s business decisions would be intertwined with Hyundai’s.

Many companies have recently cited a claimed but not substantiated lack of EV demand in the US as reasons for delaying their EV ambitions. To be clear, EVs have seen a long string of consistent sales growth in the US, stretching back more than a decade (with only a few interruptions to that growth, the largest being the start of COVID).

In the meantime, gas car sales peaked globally in 2017, and will never again reach that level of sales. This fact has been consistently underreported by media, alongside false headlines claiming EV sales are falling.

However, despite the record EV sales quarter the US just went through, it’s expected that the next year or so will see drops in EV demand. This is because of the pull-forward in sales experienced due to tax credit expiration, which caused a sales rush in Q3. Although, as has happened in other countries that suddenly ended purchase incentives, we’d expect perhaps a year of depressed sales before they begin to rise again.

But this likely drop in demand is hitting right around the same time the EV4 was supposed to launch in the US, so it’s not unreasonable for Kia to look at a market in a temporary downswing, especially when considering all the other factors laid out above (and the country’s current hostility to foreign investment, specifically investment from Kia’s partner company Hyundai), and wonder why they’ve gotten cold feet right now of all times.

While Kia didn’t lay out these reasons above in its statement, it sure seems likely that each of them could have had an effect on this decision.

The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

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New data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows that the US solar supply chain has been fully reshored, with manufacturing capacity growing across every part of the solar and storage sector.

A US solar system from start to finish

With Hemlock’s new ingot and wafer facility coming online in Q3 2025, the US can now produce every major solar component domestically, from polysilicon to modules. According to SEIA, 65 new or expanded solar and storage factories have come online this year, bringing $4.5 billion in private investment to US communities.

However, SEIA warns that more than 100 factories and $31 billion in the pipeline could be at risk if the Trump administration continues its attacks on solar energy.

Solar manufacturing is booming – for now

The SEIA Solar & Storage Supply Chain Dashboard reports major capacity growth across every segment since late 2024. As of October 2025, US module production capacity has surpassed 60 gigawatts (GW), a 37% increase from December 2024. Solar cell production has more than tripled, jumping from 1 GW to 3.2 GW.

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Battery cell manufacturing for stationary storage has climbed to over 21 gigawatt-hours (GWh), which SEIA says is enough to power the city of Houston from sunset to sunrise.

“This growth is a testament to the power of American innovation,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO. “We’re building factories, hiring American workers, and showing that solar energy means made-in-America energy.”

Inverter manufacturing, which converts solar power into usable electricity, has jumped nearly 50% since the end of 2024, rising from 19 GW to 28 GW of capacity. Mounting system production is also up 14%, with 23 new factories added since 2024.

A pipeline under political threat

The US solar pipeline remains strong, with 23 GW of new module capacity, 34 GW of cell capacity, 25 GW of inverter capacity, and 95 GWh of battery cell capacity either under construction or announced. But SEIA says that Trump administration policies, regulations, and trade actions are creating uncertainty that could hurt progress.

“We’re seeing strong growth today, but that momentum isn’t guaranteed,” Hopper said. “If the administration continues down this path, they risk driving investment overseas, stifling job creation, raising costs on consumers, and handing America’s manufacturing advantage to our competitors.

“If the administration does not reverse its harmful actions that have undermined market certainty, energy costs will rise even further, and the next wave of factories and jobs could be at risk.”

Read more: The Trump administration just killed the US’s largest solar project

The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them. 

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.