EV Incentive Lessons from the Surprising US Leader with Laura Perrotta

In this episode of EV Insider, host Scott sits down with Laura Perrotta, President of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers (NJCAR), to get a ground-level view of the EV market from someone representing 523 franchised dealers across the Garden State.

New Jersey is the #7 state for new EV sales and the only Northeast state in the top 10 — but that position is under pressure. Laura breaks down exactly what got New Jersey there, what's threatening that momentum, and what needs to happen next for EVs to truly go mainstream.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why NJ outperforms other Northeast states in EV adoption

How state and federal incentives (up to $4,000 + $7,500 federal) drove the EV rush — and what happened when they disappeared

The real sales drop-off dealers experienced after September 2025's incentive cliff

Why NJ's charging infrastructure ratio (40–45 EVs per public charger) is a hidden crisis — and the multifamily housing challenge making it worse

How Tesla Supercharger network access became a game changer for EV driver confidence

Who's buying EVs now — and who the next wave of buyers will be

The growing used EV market and what it means for dealers

The legislation NJ dealers are pushing for in 2026, including sales tax holidays and expanded charging infrastructure

What New Jersey's EV landscape could look like by 2028

Whether you're a dealer, a policy wonk, an EV enthusiast, or just thinking about your next car purchase, this episode gives you a candid, data-driven look at where the EV market really stands.

Subscribe for weekly EV industry insights, dealer perspectives, and the latest on electric vehicle trends across the U.S.

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🌐 Learn more about NJCAR: https://www.njcar.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The early adopters have adopted. Now we need to get to that regular Joe out to buy a new vehicle and entice them to get into the vehicle. So we've got our work cut out for us to really educate them on why they might want to choose an electric vehicle if it's the right choice for them.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Welcome to Eevee Insider by Recurrent, where we make it easier to buy and sell electric cars by giving you access to leaders from across the industry. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hi, I'm Laura Perata and I'm the president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers or NJ Carr. We're the trade association that represents the 523 auto and truck dealers in the state of New Jersey. We're really focused on advocacy, on compliance, education, and making sure our dealers have everything they need to succeed in their businesses in the state of New Jersey.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Okay. So you knew coming on this show, we're going to be talking about electric cars. So, you know, well, let me start out with just like something. Um, is there something that that you have kind of like you thought about electric vehicles two years ago that you don't, you know, you've sort of changed your mind on uh now? Like what's different for you personally?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Well, I've you know been pleasantly surprised at the explosion we've seen um with the manufacturers coming out with new EV models. Uh, you know, it was not too long ago that there weren't that many options. And now there are so many choices for electric vehicles um, you know, across the entire market, which is just wonderful to see. And uh, you know, it's happened relatively quickly. Uh so we just continue to see more options for more brands, which is just wonderful to see the variety of choices the consumer has today.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah. Okay, so but what are the vibes like in New Jersey right now? Um, you know, what's the what's your experience of like the cars you see on the road, the cars you see parked in the driveway of your neighborhood? And then also what dealers are saying about both new and used EV sales. Like what are the vibes?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

It's really quite a mix of what we're seeing out there on the road. And um, we have seen in a recent time over the last few months a big uptick in hybrid interest as well, too. So it's it's really been a big mix. And you know, one of the things that really led to that drive for more electric vehicles were the incentives that the state of New Jersey had a few years ago. We've been a little disappointed to see them pull back on those incentives in recent time, which has been a little hard to see. And then also the federal excise tax, I mean the federal um EV incentive being pulled back as well was problematic too. So uh, but that being said, you know, the dealers are still seeing obviously interest in electric vehicles. They um want to sell them. Uh now it's really something a lot of the onus has to be on the manufacturers to incentivize the purchase of the vehicles since the state and federal government have pulled back a little because you know, price comparison-wise, they have are a little more expensive. And it's something new for a lot of people. The early adopters have adopted. And now we need to get to that regular Joe out to buy a new vehicle and entice them to get into the vehicle. So we've got our work cut out for us to really educate them on why they might want to choose an electric vehicle if it's the right choice for them, and um to make sure that the manufacturers are putting incentives on these vehicles so that we can we can move those vehicles off the dealer's lots.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah. It feels like uh last September, everybody I know and you know hadn't talked to in years was coming out of the woodwork to ask, like, what EV should I buy, you know, before this rebates run out. Um, you know, like what what's your experience now in the in the sort of like four or five months since then? Is it just like a desert over there or is it or is it like not as bad as you might have thought from a drop-off perspective?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

No, we did definitely, there's no question. There was a big uptick in sales, you know, September and you know, the end of September. Um, and then we saw the drop-off, the people who were watching what was happening politically and um with um things playing out at the federal and state level with uh incentives were watching anxiously and they I think that they really saw this was the time to rush out and buy right now. Um, we did see a drop-off in the sales of role for New Jersey and the entire nation. That was not that big of a surprise or shock. Um the thing is now um, you know, how do we change that narrative going forward and make sure that EVs are still part of the the equation? And I think that the thing that from a consumer perspective, what we know is no one likes to be um told what they need to buy. So I think just continuing to offer choice on the dealer's lots is really something that's most appealing to the consumers. And um now it's kind of on all of us to market the EVs effectively so that people see them as a real solution for for them.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

So one of the things that surprises, surprised me, and the reason honestly, we you know, I wanted to call and get your perspective on this, is New Jersey is like um top 10 uh of of EV of states by EV, new EV sales. Um it's like number seven uh last year, it was about 12% of all new sales. It's the only state in the northeast that's in the top 10. So what did New Jersey do? You know, like specifically compared to all the other states in the Northeast that like that that that put you in the top 10 when everybody else, you know, is all the West Coast states are basically the rest of the the the set.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, I think that you know, a big part of it was that the state really had good incentives, just to put it in perspective. Um, you know, at one point we had$4,000 on the hood for electric vehicle on top of the 7,500 federal EV incentive you could get.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Was it was that was that far and away the best in the in the region, basically? Is that what was going on?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I think, but it wasn't just that. We also had a sales tax holiday on electric vehicles historically. So you weren't paying a sales tax. We also didn't have a registration fee for a while, which now unfortunately we do for electric vehicle um registration fee. Uh we we were offering these when you put all the incentives together with the federal incentive, that that was pretty robust package right there. And um, then we also have groups like uh that we're a board member of called Charge EBC that, you know, have taken upon themselves to really educate consumers and the public on the on the benefits of of purchasing electric vehicles. So, you know, I think it was a good um nonprofit push um to educate folks. Our dealers were pushing, and but then nothing beats cash on the hood. You know, when you've got robust state incentives and we've got um, you know, really good federal incentives, that's that's the the best way to get people in a car. I mean, look at Colorado really has a robust incentive program and they've had really, really great sales. I mean, that you know, money money is what gets people into the dealership to buy.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

So I grew up in New Jersey, right? So I I have I have a little insider knowledge that maybe not everybody watching this does. And my observation and my memory is like, you know, New Jersey drivers might drive a little less distance-wise than folks in Colorado or California or whatever, but they also spend a lot of time stuck in traffic, which is actually a great use case for EVs because they use very, very little energy when they're when they're idling, you know, basically compared to a combustion engine car, which the engine is going, you know. So I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, no, that's that's a good point. You know, it it geographically we're we're a little smaller um as far compared to some of the states out out west. And um yeah, but you are stuck in traffic too at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

The top states, you know, California, Colorado, Washington, you what what would it take for New Jersey to be in to crack the top three, you know, in if say three, four, five years from now? Like what needs to be true?

SPEAKER_00 7:50

I I hate to keep coming back to the the main thing here from our perspective, but it's incentives. You know, the the manufacturers need to put more money into um selling the EVs, getting people in the vehicles. We need to um increase charging opportunities within the state too. You know, that's that's a huge challenge. Um, because when customers come in, you know, they want to know what's the range and what's the charging opportunities here. Do I need to get a charger at home? Are there publicly available charging? What's the situation there? And then um bringing back, you know, the federal incentive if there was that was at all possible and ramping up our state incentives. You know, if this is important to the state of New Jersey to make sure that we have electric vehicles on the road, then they really do need to reinvest and ramp up these programs. They've it's interesting, they've been putting more money into the EV incentive program by giving less per customer, which doesn't do anything. If you're only going to give$1,500 on a$50,000 vehicle, that's not enough necessarily to make the difference. But if you can go back to a$4,000 incentive and a sales tax holiday and get rid of the registration fee on the EV, then you're talking, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

So that's interesting where there's just that, yeah, that critical mass where it's like, this matters to me or this doesn't really matter to me, you know. And there's something between 1,500 and 4,000 where all of a sudden it's like pretty meaningful to drive actually.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

You since you brought up uh charging, um, I'd love to dig into that. Um, you know, New Jersey, interesting because it's a dense state, right? Like there is actually it's pretty easy to find a fast charger. But if you look at the numbers, New Jersey is one of the worst states for a ratio of EVs on the road to chargers. It's like 40 to 40, 41 to 45 EVs per public charger out there. And also the other thing that I think is like that makes it tougher for New Jersey is 40% of New Jersey households are multifamily, um, which is a higher proportion than nationally. And that's just kind of a tougher nut to crack around home charging. So, like, what do you feel like the the right policies or incentives around like uh charging infrastructure that need to be in place for the next few years in New Jersey are?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Yeah, I think we need just absolutely more charging everywhere we can put it. Um, it is a balance because electricity in New Jersey is at a premium right now. It's extremely expensive right now. So that that makes things difficult. But um I do think that what we, you know, we need to make sure that, especially in those urban areas where if folks want to purchase an EV, that they need to have um the ability to charge, obviously. So we have to figure out something. I know a lot of the buildings, the new apartments that get put up, they always are requiring charging, it seems like, in in in their on their locations. But if you've got what, seven chargers to, I don't know, uh 800 units, that's not gonna work. You know, we've gotta we've got to make sure there's there's some good plan here. Um, and we didn't and that we even have a challenge too on the medium and heavy-duty um vehicle side too on the trucks, making sure there's charging infrastructure for them as well. So, but yeah, I know it's um we definitely have a lot of vehicles. And one of the biggest things I've seen driving around the state with people um is EV, the EV chargers are in disrepair. So even maintaining what we have would be would be something like very important for the vendors, whoever gets these contracts to make sure that their feet are held to the fire to ensure that the chargers are actually operating properly. Because um, you can't have seven chargers in a mall and one working. And we need uh everything to be working well so that um the experience for the driver is a positive one and so that they don't hesitate the next time they they go to purchase a vehicle.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

You know, we really did hit an inflection point on charger reliability last year, not necessarily because a lot of the operators got so much better, but because nearly every OEM got access to the Tesla supercharger network, which is like by far the most reliable. And so I think, you know, all of our drivers that we've talked to, that that's kind of a that was a real game changer for them. There's, you know, that that experience is like you can actually rely on it all the time. And it's not six chargers or it's 20, you know, kind of thing, and 19 of them are working kind of thing. So that feels like a pretty big change that just really happened in the last year.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

There's a lot, obviously, though, that that needs to be done. We need to be on parity if if you um, you know, people need to feel that there's no question that wherever they go, they're gonna have an operation operating charger that um will get them to where they need to go quickly.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Do you have any insights around like, okay, so so who the buyers are now of the the you said like the EV adopters, the early adopters have already kind of done it. So, like, what's the next wave look like from a demographics perspective, whether that's age or income or geography, that are sort of the next wave of of EV buyers in New Jersey?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

I think you know, we have seen just nationally um folks with a little higher income uh moving towards purchasing electric vehicles. They are a little bit more expensive, of course, too, but which I think um adds to that. And then um just oftentimes um I think people in a higher income bracket are more interested in adopting new technologies, although I know it's not as new as it used to be, right? Um, but I do think younger drivers as well find it appealing to, you know, folks who um want to uh do something environmentally friendly and they they think that that's the right path for them. So I I think younger drivers, higher income, um, you know, it's a lot of folks are purchasing vehicles a little later than they did, you know, back when when uh you know a few decades ago. So who knows, you know, maybe this next wave of the next generation will come in and be much more open, I'm sure, to different types of technology.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Since we're talking about younger drivers, um what are you hearing from dealers in uh New Jersey about selling pre-owned EVs? Like that, that that price point obviously a lot lower because they tend to depreciate pretty quickly for the first three years. Um, a lot of the dealers that that we've been talking to, we work with nationally, are looking at at uh used EV sales as a way to kind of backfill the new EV sales that probably aren't going to happen quite as much this year. Are you hearing kind of like some good buzz around that in your state as well?

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Yeah, I think any used vehicle right now is kind of in demand. We're seeing we're seeing um used vehicles definitely um getting a lot of the spotlight and attention and hunger. And uh everyone wants to have options on their on their dealer lot as far as uh different opportunities for the customer when they come in to. So I think, you know, if if you're looking to to buy uh a new vehicle and trade in your old vehicle, this is the time to do it right now. Everyone wants the used inventory, any powertrain, you know. But we do um, you know, it there was a little challenge there for a while where they weren't sure with with electric vehicles coming finally, you know, being traded in whether the residual value would be there with the batteries as the battery technology is evolving so quickly. Um, from you know, some research that we was someone on my team fold, um, you know, that uh battery disparities getting closer and closer between the ice and the electric battery um residual value. So that's interesting. And I just know that, you know, the technology is going to keep getting better. So it's great.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Is the coalition that you work with, are they are are you all um getting behind any specific EV focused legislation um or programs this like legislative year um, you know, moving forward?

SPEAKER_00 15:35

You've been working with uh Char GBC. I mentioned earlier. They're they're a really great uh coalition that we've been involved in in New Jersey. And um, we've been working on some legislation more through Char GBC with Senator Smith from New Jersey to try and you know reinvigorate the EV incentives uh in the state and make sure that charging is a focus too. So we don't have a piece of legislation yet, but we just started a new session. Um that being said, you know, looking at trying to push for increased EV incentives, sales tax holidays on the EVs again, and focusing on charging, you know, that that's where we're putting a lot of our energy to make sure that uh the infrastructure is there and available.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

That makes sense. Those are the those are the those are the barriers. So it makes sense that the legislation you're working on addresses them. So um okay, so um flash forward two years now into the future, like what do you see uh about sort of like EV adoption, um, sales, ownership? Like, how does it evolve in New Jersey? Uh, you know, now we're what are we in 2026 right now? So what does it look like in 2028? What's your sort of like vision for what, you know, for the for the market?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I imagine that, you know, um, there's going to be more and more people purchasing electric vehicles over time. Um, I don't know whether we'll see that ramp up that we did that at the very beginning with all the incentives and um the early adopters being very excited about a new technology. But that being said, you know, I think it will be a constant um creep up of uh electric vehicle sales. And um, I think a lot of that will depend on where the policies could come down in the future, both the state and the federal policies. You know, it's it's just uh you can't just look at the market in a bubble because um when you're introducing technologies for some people that it's their first time purchase and maybe they're um, you know, a little nervous about it, if you put that money in front of them, then it will speed up that that fear. It goes away pretty quickly. So I think that the more we can do um as a state and at the federal level to uh make sure that folks are seeing that they can get a great deal on these vehicles, that will really help. And then I think a lot of bonuses also on the manufacturer, you know, whether you know your um Ford or GM or or um Lexus, you know, making sure that as you're producing new electric vehicles, if you want to see them take off, then then put incentives down and get people in there.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Is there one new model that's coming out this year that you are particularly excited about that you're like, that's the one that's gonna be the the killer, uh, the killer in in your world?

SPEAKER_00 18:19

No, you know, not anyone in particular that really, you know, caught my eye. Um I kind of like the electric escalade. I don't know. I've been I know that's pretty expensive, but I've been looking at that. I think that's a beautiful car.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Yeah. So and there were really good. Cadillac killers are selling those like crazy. I mean, Cadillac has been a really interesting, I think, uh success story. And they're they're making products that people want, you know. So um the escalade is a is a big car.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

I like big cars.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Thanks for joining this episode of Eevee Insider. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. And we will see you next time.