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 Rob Stumpf and Tim Levin.

For years, the most visible divide over electric vehicles has seemed to be political—just look at all those “I bought this before Elon went crazy” bumper stickers. But new polling suggests that the way a person votes may be a far worse predictor of EV interest than you’d think. 

According to a new survey published by the Zero Emission Transportation Association, an EV industry group, age is a far bigger fault line than political affiliation. The findings say a lot about where the car market is headed, so let’s unpack.

Per the study, 36% of adults aged 18-34 and 40% of adults aged 35-49 said they were “very likely” to purchase or lease a new EV. Those were among the groups most likely to go electric in a report that sliced and diced the data from 1,300 respondents across many demographic lines: location, gender, income, and so on.

Among adults ages 50-64, that number falls to 18%. And zeroing in on the 65-plus crowd, things start to look ugly. Just 4% of respondents in that category said they were very likely to buy an EV. 

The oldest group was also the sourest on EVs, with 40% of respondents saying they had a somewhat or very negative opinion of the technology. Among 18-34 year olds, that figure was just 5%. Three-quarters said they had a positive view on electric cars. 

Surprisingly, Democrats and Republicans were far more aligned. Twenty-six percent of left-leaning voters said they were very likely to buy an EV. For those on the right, it was only a little less, at 22%. However, Republicans did show more skepticism toward electric cars; 42% said they were “not likely” to buy an EV, compared to only about a quarter of Democrats. 

On the one hand, the generational gap is exactly the opposite of what you’d want to accelerate electrification right now. The average car buyer is around 50 years old. Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation and, apparently, not too down with electric propulsion. Young people, enthusiastic though they may be, are simply far less likely to be in a position to buy a $40,000 or $50,000 car. This may help explain the action on the used market; younger, less wealthy buyers are getting into EVs secondhand. 

But you could also view the findings as a structural advantage for EV adoption, just like improving economics or the fact that the cars are just a better experience. Those 18-49 year olds have potentially several decades of car-buying ahead of them, so the pool of EV buyers is set to grow dramatically.

Assuming the industry gets the rest right—more charging infrastructure, lower prices, more options—that could help speed things along. 

We discussed this poll—plus Bentley’s first EV, Geely’s ultra-fast charging milestone, and Saudi Arabia’s wild Exobot EVs—on this week’s Plugged-In Podcast. Check it out on audio platforms or on YouTube.

-Tim Levin

Say hello to the Tesla Semi, officially this time. Tesla says that it has started volume production of the Semi in Nevada, almost a decade after first announcing it. A coalition of shipping companies in the U.S. ordered 2,500 of them, which would double the U.S. electric truck fleet in one fell swoop.

BMW decided to open the orderbooks for the all new i3 in the U.S. even earlier than expected.

Europe’s EV push shows no signs of slowing down. With high fuel prices and more choices than ever, EV sales made up 29% of all new car purchases across the region last month. (Compare that with single digits in the U.S.)

The VW ID. Buzz’s return to the U.S. has been delayed (again). Volkswagen now plans to bring back the iconic electric bus as a 2028 model during the first half of 2027. Late last year, VW said it was skipping the 2026 model as it faced a tough environment for EVs and slow Buzz sales.

Rivian just pushed the first recall for its new Rivian R2 electric SUV over its backup camera. The recall covered nearly 99,000 vehicles in total, spanning the R1 ecosystem as well. Rivian says 95% of vehicles are already fixed thanks to the magic of over-the-air updates.

There's something about high-mileage used cars that is a bit off-putting to buyers. But fear not if you're buying an EV, at least according to a recent study that shows long-term EV durability far exceeds that of gas cars.

Bentley revealed an EV for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. The Torcal can charge at 400 kW, gets over 300 miles of range, and starts north of $200,000.

Toyota is reportedly getting into EREVs. A report from Nikkei Asia says the automaker is targeting 200,000 units of production in China next year, and double the year after that.

The Ceer Exobot SUV and sedan are Saudi Arabia’s first homegrown cars. They look absolutely bonkers.

Audi's A6 E-Tron managed to help set a new Guinness World Record. A professional driver drove a whopping 831 miles on a single charge, hitting an efficiency rating of 8.76 miles per kWh. It usurped the Lucid Air's previous record of 749 miles.

Buy a new GM vehicle and get paid to charge—that's (almost) the newest pitch GM has for new EV buyers. Not only will GM provide owners with a free $1,999 Level 2 charger, but California buyers could even be credited for helping to balance the grid thanks to a new partnership.

Geely just unveiled an EV charger so powerful that you might have to read this twice. Its newest line of ultra-fast chargers supply an almost unbelievable 2.2 megawatts of electricity.

CATL's newest battery tech directly targets American pickups. Despite the trade barriers in-place, the Chinese battery maker believes that it could still be a hit thanks to local production via licensing.

Voltpost announced that more than a dozen new lamppost-mounted EV chargers are now live in New York.

Comma AI, purveyor of bring-your-own-ADAS to many modern cars, is now under investigation by NHTSA over two fatal crashes.

Mercedes isn’t stopping with Nvidia. This week, it tapped another partner for driver-assistance, the UK’s Wayve. Wayve’s tech will support an urban point-to-point driving feature within two years.

VW wants you to use its new cars for gaming. It's now bringing video games to some of its new cars, and all you'll need to use that big infotainment screen to play Tetris and Pac-Man is your smartphone.

Hyundai (like most automakers) is feeling the EV recession. It plans to offset the effects by building "tens of thousands" of Ioniq 5 robotaxis for Waymo.

Canada might be limiting the number of tariff-free Chinese EVs imported in the short-term, but that isn't stopping automakers from installing Chinese-sourced components in other vehicles.

Check out this week’s Plugged-In Podcast, and let us know what (or who) you want to see more of on the show! Drop us a line at [email protected]

Thanks for reading Critical Materials. See you next week!

-Tim Levin, Senior Editor