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 one big EV story from 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.

Judging by how things have gone for the new Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf this year, I sort of thought affordable electric cars were toast. After all, Americans clamored for more accessible EVs for years, then two great ones hit a post-tax-credit market and failed to make a splash. 

Driving the Kia EV3 changed my mind. 

This cheerful, capable, and well-designed EV is my favorite of America’s new crop of “cheap” EVs. It’s a welcome bright spot in an industry that seems to be losing models faster than it can introduce new ones. Here’s what to know:

What’s Good: 

What Falls Short:

My early verdict?

The EV3 punches well above its weight in comfort, style, and capability, making it one of the very best low-end EV options to date. Whether it can buck the broader sales slowdown and do better in the marketplace than the Bolt and Leaf is still TBD.

But based on what I experienced behind the wheel, I think it has a good shot at success. 

For more on the EV3, read my full review and check out this week’s Plugged-In Podcast, where we also discuss the Jaguar Type 01, Tesla’s vehicle-to-home upgrade, and whether EVs will break the grid. You can find the show on audio platforms or on YouTube.

-Tim Levin

Move over Ferrari Luce, there’s a new extremely expensive car to argue about. Jaguar unveiled the Type 01 on Tuesday. The humongous $130,000 sedan is the tip of the spear for Jaguar’s controversial rebrand. It has over 1,000 horsepower, 400 miles of range, and 350-kW charging.

But let’s be honest—what most people buying this will care about is how it looks. The internet has been just as divided as you’d expect.

Geely is the latest Chinese automaker to announce a Canadian entry, following BYD and Chery. Geely-branded cars will hit that market next year.

The Dodge Charger Daytona EV was supposed to bring muscle-car bros into the electric era. Instead, it’s pretty much been a flop. According to the automaker's sales figures, the car had fewer than 800 deliveries in 2026.

Lucid is also hurting a bit. Its latest company figures shows that production has fallen to its lowest output level in nearly two years as the company crimps supply to better meet demand for its cars.

Who knew that the idea of sweaty back could cause so much outrage? Rivian is in hot water after it quietly downgraded the R2s ventilated seats for being too loud. The small tweak has produced a surprisingly epic firestorm for the startup, with some customers even vowing to cancel their R2 orders.

Mercedes-Benz hit a huge electric milestone last quarter. One in four cars sold by the brand last quarter sported a charge port. EV sales grew even as the company’s car sales more broadly fell year-on-year.

Say goodbye to the ID.4, and say hello to the ID. Tiguan. Volkswagen unveiled the electric crossover that will succeed the now-canceled ID.4 in the U.S. It has a bunch of upgrades that should make it a much better EV—and a much better car. Think more buttons, a frunk, one-pedal driving, and new software.

Porsche has been flip-flopping on its decision to build an all-electric 718 sports car. It sounds like the brand has finally made up its mind, though, and has opted out of building the gas-powered version .

The Paris Motor Show is next week, and it's packed with tech-heavy Chinese automakers. This is the official, unofficial way that the Far East is putting European automakers on notice.

Suvrat Kothari tested out New York City’s first lamppost-mounted EV charger, a unit from Voltpost. He called it a “game changer.”

Adoption of EVs may have slowed in the U.S., but the charging infrastructure is pushing ahead—with or without federal support. California just opened up applications for a program that is subsidizing charging ports to the tune of up to $100,000 each.

Tesla's rollout of Megachargers for its Semi truck is also underway. This week, the company opened the first charging station through its partnership with Pilot travel centers. More than a dozen more locations are currently under construction in the U.S.

The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y can now power your home in a blackout. But you need to buy a newer model and have the right hardware.

New data from Nio shows that battery swapping is getting more popular than ever. Over the last week (which was a holiday travel week), it managed to complete nearly 1.2 million battery swaps, raising the daily average 22% year-over-year.

Researchers have found a way to extend the usable life of EV batteries by up to 20%. The trick is in bypassing individual cells, essentially "reconfiguring" the way that packs perform cell matching for optimal voltage.

Honda will test out wireless charging on public roads starting next year.

Waymo has been expanding rapidly (and all of that expanding can be rather expensive). This week, the company announced that it performed its first debt financing and raised $5 billion to continue its expansion.

Autonomous trucking in the U.S. just cleared a major regulatory hurdle. The U.S. said driverless trucking companies like Aurora don’t need to comply with a rule mandating that drivers place reflective triangles near stopped trucks. They can use warning lights mounted to the truck instead.

Pressure is mounting to approve Tesla's Full Self-Driving in Europe. Reuters did a fascinating deep dive into the pressure campaign.

Tesla's FSD is coming to Germany (with an asterisk). German regulators are telling Tesla to drop the FSD moniker first.

-Rob Stumpf

Rivian’s Halloween software update is here, and it’s an impressively thorough homage to “Ghostbusters.”

Thanks for reading Critical Materials. See you next week!

-Tim Levin, Senior Editor