Happy Friday, and welcome to Critical Materials, your source for the biggest stories shaping the future of the auto industry.

Every Friday, we break down the week’s biggest EV news and recap must-read stories from around the web on driverless cars, batteries, charging, and more.

– Today’s email was written by Rob Stumpf and Tim Levin.

Are electric cars suffering or flourishing in the U.S.? The answer is yes. 

The first part of that statement is easy to justify. This week, the Trump administration gutted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that were pushing car companies to clean up their lineups with more EVs and hybrids. The Biden-era rules set the fleet-wide target at around 50 miles per gallon, while the new, looser regs drop that to 34 mpg. 

In a sense, the rollback was largely symbolic. Congress took the teeth out of CAFE rules last year through legislative sleight of hand; it dropped the penalty for not meeting CAFE standards to $0. Automakers were already off the hook, which explains much of the backtracking from EVs we’ve seen over the last year. 

But the symbolism is important here too. The CAFE rules were the last big pillar of federal support for clean cars, on paper at least. The move cements the U.S. as a gas-addicted outlier in the global shift to EVs. As Mack Hogan wrote this week: “America’s clean car retreat is complete.” 

Yet the cars themselves keep getting better, and harder to ignore. If you were to just look at the way these products are advancing in terms of range, charging speed, and value, it would be tough to detect any kind of EV slowdown.

This week, BMW announced that the i3, its first electric 3-Series, will have up to 468 miles of EPA-estimated range, beating virtually every other electric car on the market today and trouncing every Tesla. 

Maybe it’s overkill. Or maybe taking EV adoption to the next level means giving people so much range they forget it was ever a problem. Either way, the age of the 400-mile EV is in full swing as battery costs come down, chemistries improve, and automakers implement more clever packaging solutions. And that’s only a good thing for making EVs more competitive with gas cars. 

BMW says its latest generation cells are 20% more energy-dense than those found in previous EVs. Plus they forego the battery pack and instead stack directly into the body of the car, which saves space and further boosts range. Most of the industry is moving in this direction.

At $61,500, the i3 50 xDrive actually costs less than an equally powerful gas model. The M350 xDrive, which has about the same horsepower and 0-60 times, is $66,000. Even as the U.S. lags behind, global carmakers continue to step things up in their quest to compete with China, and that bleeds into our market too. 

The i3 is not on sale yet. But the seriously impressive Rivian R2 is, and it helped drive record sales for the startup this past quarter, according to figures released Friday. Whether Rivian can keep it up is an open question, but the early success shows that when compelling models arrive, people will still buy them. 

That’s the strange place the U.S. EV market finds itself in right now. The policy environment has never been more hostile. And yet, EVs are going farther, charging faster, and becoming better gas-car replacements than ever. The EV transition may be slowing down. But EV technology certainly isn’t. 

We discussed this news—plus the early demise of the Chevy Bolt, Ionna’s big growth plans, and the delayed Tesla Roadster reveal—on this week’s Plugged-In Podcast. Check it out on audio platforms or on YouTube.

-Tim Levin

BMW is getting ready to launch a more affordable Neue Klasse EV to compete with an influx of low-priced electric cars in Europe.

Ford's upcoming sub-$30,000 Fathom pickup is the Blue Oval’s big shot at an EV redemption. The only problem? Even Ford’s CEO knows that a successful launch is a huge undertaking. 

If a Toyota Prius and Lamborghini Revuelto has a baby, it would look like the new Hyundai Ioniq V. The futuristic EV runs on CATL batteries, starts at just $14,800, and is part of Hyundai’s push to turn around its struggling China business.  

Tesla’s vehicles are getting some big updates across the globe. More range, bigger screens, and finally V2L charging to help use the car like a giant battery pack on wheels. U.S. buyers will need to wait for one of those changes, though. 

America’s EV leader said it sold 486,532 vehicles across the world last quarter, down only 2% from Q3 of 2025. The company kept up the momentum despite a difficult environment in the U.S.

Rivian is working hard to bring the latest and greatest autonomy features to its new R2 electric SUV. But new buyers will have to wait until next year if they want an R2 with lidar. 

The startup announced a delivery record in the third quarter, managing to move over 19,000 EVs as the R2 ramped up production.

Tesla was supposed to reveal the Roadster (the car that it says will be the swan song for human-driven Teslas) this week. That’s been delayed due to weather. A newly filed patent shows what might be in store ahead of the reveal. 

Toyota’s multi-pathway approach to powertrains might just be working. Over 60% of the cars it sold last quarter were electrified.

General Motors may have slowed down its EV push, but it hasn’t stopped. In fact, the automaker has selected a location where it will produce its next-gen EV batteries. It says lithium manganese rich cells will bring the cost benefits of lithium iron phosphate, with performance closer to typical high-nickel cells.

Looking for a range-topping EV? BMW’s new i3 might just be what you’re looking for by packing a whopping 468 miles of range into the ultimate road-tripping machine.

Chinese automakers have been duking it out over charging speeds, something that can be damaging to ordinary EV batteries. Geely found a way to beat the system and heal batteries through fast charging.

Speaking of Geely, it’s not just fast charging that has its eye. In fact, it’s buying a 30% stake in Nio’s battery swapping unit. It’s one indication that that the long-awaited consolidation of China’s EV industry is starting.

Ionna is growing massively in the U.S., quickly becoming one of the public’s favorite charging providers. It has doubled its footprint this year and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.

Cars are becoming increasingly connected, which comes with distinct pros and cons. One team of researchers found that some of the most popular EVs may also be the largest offenders of shipping vehicle data to third parties.

AI isn’t just about controlling your car’s steering wheel and gas pedal. More automakers are investing in AI for manufacturing—from welding to outright assembly. Some executives are calling it the modern-day space race, and it could affect car making as the world knows it.

Driving the Porsche Taycan changed Andrei Nedelea’s opinion of fake gear shifting in EVs.

You might not think of Ikea as an innovator in the self-driving space, but it turns out that the Swedes are ready to rock. The company has announced a partnership with Kodiak to pull the driver from a 219-mile long-haul freight delivery route later this year.

Thanks for reading Critical Materials. See you next week!

-Tim Levin, Senior Editor