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, keep you up to speed on the cars we’re testing, and recap must-read stories from around the web on driverless cars, batteries, charging, and more.

– Today’s email was written by Suvrat Kothari, Rob Stumpf, and me, Tim Levin.

Lithium-ion batteries are what make the entire transition to electric vehicles possible. They’re also the dirtiest part of building a clean car, when you account for what it takes to mine and process minerals and package them into neat little cells. But efforts to recycle and repurpose EV batteries are gaining steam.

Two pieces of news caught my eye on that front this week. And they show how both government and industry are tackling the issue of battery reuse from multiple angles.

Waymo, America’s leading autonomous vehicle company, announced a deal for its retired robotaxi batteries to be repurposed as stationary energy storage installations. Alongside B2U, an energy storage company, Waymo plans to deploy “hundreds of megawatts” of grid-scale batteries in the U.S., starting with projects in Texas and California.

The idea is to take packs from end-of-life Jaguar I-Paces and use them to store excess energy generated by intermittent renewable sources. That way, the electricity can be deployed during times of peak demand. And it’s possible because an end-of-life EV battery can still have plenty of juice left in it for other applications. An electric car with 50% of its initial range is probably worth replacing—especially to a taxi company that thrives on utilization—but that same exact pack can be plenty useful for a utility company.

It follows similar deals from Rivian and General Motors, which are both working with Redwood Materials to reuse their spent battery packs. In Rivian’s case, the batteries from R1S and R1T EVs will someday help power the startup’s factory in Illinois.

But breaking down a battery into its component parts for remanufacturing is important too. That industry just got a leg up from a law passed in Colorado this week. The state will soon require car companies to handle end-of-life management for EV and plug-in hybrid batteries. Starting in 2029, the state won’t allow EV batteries to be dumped in landfills at all.

The new law also sets targets for the amount of critical minerals recyclers must recover from battery packs—the first state policy to do so, according to Colorado Public Radio. By 2035, recycling companies must capture 80% of the lithium contained in an EV battery.

This reminds me of a fascinating report published not too long ago by RMI, the clean-energy think tank. And it shows just how profound an impact a boom in battery recycling might have on how EVs are made. According to the group, with enough battery-recycling capability, the world may not need to mine any new battery minerals after 2050.

-Tim Levin

Get up to speed on the news that caught our eye this week:

Audi's most powerful supercar, the Nuvolari, has been revealed. And while it still packs a screaming V-8, it's also a plug-in hybrid with three electric motors helping to put the power to the wheels. The result? A whopping 987 horsepower and 1,585 pound-feet of torque. Finding one of the 499 examples that Audi wants to build (and the $700,000 it’s asking for one) will be the challenge.

Electric pickup trucks didn't do nearly as well as automakers expected in the U.S. Ford says its upcoming affordable truck can break that mold.

Amazon now has over 50,000 electric delivery vans.

Silicon Valley may have raised the bar on autonomous cars, but big players like Waymo and Tesla certainly weren't the first to try to make cars drive themselves. That race has been on since at least the 1970s, Andrei Nedelea reports.

Electrify America has heard your prayers. It’s finally overhauling its frustrating in-app payment system.

Insuring an EV is still more expensive than a gas-powered counterpart, but that price is rapidly coming down thanks to cost efficiencies and adoption. Here's how much more you'll pay today (and how that's changed in recent months).

The rapid adoption of AI has been causing a massive spike in memory prices since 2025. Now automakers are sounding the alarm that the memory shortage has come for the new car market and could soon lead to a price increase on new cars.

Germany is feeling some pressures of its own thanks to shifts in global trade. While the rest of the auto industry saw a revenue climb of about 2%, the Germans fell nearly 4% thanks to tariffs, global conflict, and technical disruption across the automotive market. Experts are saying this could make 2026 "another crisis year" for automakers.

The fight for the right to repair has been brought to the White House. U.S. President Donald Trump met with several automakers this week to discuss the future of the $200 billion auto repair market, and what it means for both independent shops and consumers looking to repair modern tech-heavy cars.

Protectionism for U.S. automakers could put domestic brands on the path to "global isolation," according to experts. Heavy tariffs, as well as other laws unfriendly to imported vehicles and parts, could make the U.S. less competitive in global markets, especially as Chinese EVs gobble up huge amounts of marketshare.

-Rob Stumpf

When I took a Hyundai Ioniq 5 on a road trip in Upstate New York during Memorial Day weekend, I was shocked by how little I spent on fast charging compared to what I would have splurged on gas had I rented a similar gas-powered SUV. The experience shows how the gas crisis is reshaping the math for EV ownership.

The big picture: Up until now, it was conventional wisdom that EVs only rake in the maximum cost savings if you charge at home, with cheap residential electricity. But amid the Iran conflict, that calculus is shifting. With gas at $4.58 a gallon in the state of New York during my journey, even pricey public fast chargers were beat out expensive gas in terms of cost per mile. 

Don’t believe me? Here are the receipts:

Pros

Cons

The bottom line: Sure, had I only charged using cheap household electricity, my cost savings would have been even greater. But even frequent usage of public fast chargers makes plenty of sense now.  Blame the stubbornly high gas prices, which are now making EVs feel a lot more attractive than before.

-Suvrat Kothari

Uber’s annual Lost and Found Index is out! And let me tell you, people are leaving a lot of weird—and expensive—stuff in the back seat of cabs.

Some of my personal favorites:

Thanks for reading Critical Materials. See you next week!

-Tim Levin