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 Tim Levin, Rob Stumpf, and Suvrat Kothari

Looking to buy a used EV? You’re not alone. Nearly 43,000 secondhand electric cars were sold in March alone, a new monthly record. 

“That was on no one’s bingo card,” said Scott Case, cofounder and CEO of Recurrent, a startup that tracks range retention in used EVs. “September 30th of last year, all the rebates run out, and that’s it. We’re supposed to be in EV-apocalypse land right now.”

But even as the market for new EVs takes a dive, used electric cars are more popular than ever—tax credit or not. A growing supply of modern, off-lease options hitting the market is helping. 

Plus, as Case told me and Mack Hogan on this week’s episode of the Plugged-In Podcast, high gas prices tend to push buyers from the new market into the used one. “I can’t believe I’m thanking the Trump administration for accelerating the EV transition, but that’s exactly what they’re doing,” he said.

On top of that, people are recognizing that they can get a better, newer car if they choose an EV over a used combustion vehicle. “It’s just a better deal,” he said. 

Used EVs are so cheap for a few reasons, including uncertainty around how their batteries hold up over time. But is that really worth worrying about? After analyzing a billion miles of electric driving across tens of thousands of vehicles over the last six years, Case says the results are clear. Electric cars, especially modern ones, tend to retain their initial range very well over time. 

“The biggest surprise for me over that period and looking at all that data coming in is basically these cars are holding up way better than I expected going into the company,” he said. 

According to Recurrent’s data, the average EV retains 97% of its original range after three years and 95% after five years. Importantly, that doesn’t mean these batteries aren’t degrading—they are. But it’s not happening that quickly, and some manufacturers add in hidden battery buffers to keep the driver’s experience consistent over the years. 

Full-on battery failures are extremely rare too, he said. And, counterintuitively, an EV with a battery that’s gone bust is actually a hidden gem if you can find one. That’s because a pack that was replaced under warranty should function like a brand-new one, adding years to a car’s usable life. 

“It’s rare but if you can identify that there’s a car that’s five or six or seven years old that got a battery replacement a year earlier, that’s an incredible deal,” Case said. 

For more on how batteries age and the best used EV deals, check out our conversation with Scott above or find us on your favorite audio platform. This was a really fun discussion, and I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of it—whether you’re shopping for a used EV or not.

-Tim Levin

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

Kia's PV5 van is showing up everywhere. The versatile EV platform recently debuted as a concept for Korean police that will begin testing in June, complete with AI-powered cameras and a roof-mounted drone with thermal imaging.

Rivian is boosting the projected output of EVs at its new Georgia plant by 50%. The automaker says that it plans to have a starting capacity of 300,000 vehicles annually when it opens in 2028.

SpaceX may have bought nearly 20% of the Tesla Cybertrucks sold in Q4, but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to contributions from Musk's other companies to Tesla's bottom line. The final number? More than half a billion in 2025.

The Tesla Semi has finally entered volume production after 9 years of waiting.

Hyundai unveiled Pleos, an overhauled user interface that looks a lot like what you’d find in a Tesla.

The great EV pullback continues. Nissan has scrapped a $500 million plan to build EVs at its plant in Canton, Mississippi. The plant will build a new body-on-frame vehicle platform instead.

Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Polo, a small electric hatchback that costs just under $30,000 in Europe.

Hertz launched a new company, Oro Mobility, that will handle fleet management for autonomous-taxi operations. It’s partnering with Uber to maintain the firm’s fleet of Lucid Gravity robotaxis.

It's a good thing that electric cars are giant batteries on wheels, especially when all that new autonomous driving tech is extremely power hungry. Some even devote up to an entire kilowatt of power to the AV systems.

China's price war is hurting everyone bottom line. Porsche says it won't participate, and that could cost it some noticeable sales volume.

Volkswagen and Stellantis are both apparently open to Chinese automakers sharing their plants in Europe. Could that "clever solution" signal acceptance that there's some serious competition in town?

U.S. automakers are banking on tariff refunds padding their bottom-line after losses have mounted. Ford, for example, forecasts a whopping $1.3 billion in refunds and rival GM says it expects around $500 million.

-Rob Stumpf

Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids displaced 2.3 million barrels of oil consumption per day in 2025, according to research from BloombergNEF. That number should more than double by the end of the decade as sales of battery-powered cars continue to climb globally, the company projects. 

Despite the slowdown in the U.S., EV sales continue to grow robustly in the rest of the world, including in major economies like China, Europe, and India. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, automakers sold 20.7 million plug-in vehicles worldwide last year, representing 20% year-over-year growth.

Surprisingly, electric two- and three-wheelers are currently cutting oil use more than cars, particularly in developing economies across Asia, BNEF said. Those smaller vehicles displaced some 1.1 million barrels of oil last year, as compared with around 741,000 from passenger vehicles. 

But BNEF projects that cars will drive an outsized share of oil displacement in the coming years, with plug-in vehicles collectively erasing up to 5.3 million barrels of daily oil use by 2030. For context, a single barrel of crude oil is 42 gallons, so the math here is pretty staggering.

Energy think tank Ember has a more conservative estimate than BNEF, saying plug-in vehicles avoided 1.7 million barrels of oil per day in 2025 globally. Like BNEF, Ember factors in both fully electric vehicles and PHEVs in its data. This lower estimate is partially based on the assumption that PHEV owners don't actually plug them in all that often, relying more on their combustion engines than battery power. That number is still equivalent to 70% of Iran’s oil exports going through the Strait of Hormuz last year, Ember said. 

Research shows that displacing oil consumption can bring direct, tangible benefits to public health in communities. Even after accounting for emissions associated with manufacturing and electricity generation, EVs have a lower carbon footprint over their lifetime compared to gas cars. Studies have shown that high adoption of EVs in California and New York has helped clean up the air. 

Of course, the promise of cleaner air alone doesn’t move cars off of dealer lots. Most buyers are thinking about their wallets, and consuming less gas makes economic sense too.

Residential electricity remains significantly cheaper than average gas prices on a per-mile-driven basis across the country. And total cost of ownership, factoring in things like fuel and maintenance, can tilt meaningfully in favor of EVs, depending on where you live and how often you rely on fast-charging networks versus home charging.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Cost Calculator is a useful tool to run the numbers yourself. For example, a 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 all-wheel drive costs hundreds of dollars less to run and maintain annually than a 2024 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid AWD in New York. And with the ongoing conflict in Iran keeping gas prices elevated, the importance of using less oil is hitting home for drivers in a new way.

-Suvrat Kothari

Electric vertical take off and landing aircraft, or EVTOLs, are finally getting somewhere. This week, California-based Joby Aviation completed a point-to-point flight from JFK Airport to Manhattan, the first test flight of its kind in New York City. The flight reduced what’s normally an hour-long taxi ride to just seven minutes, according to the Good Morning America segment above.

Autonomous cars were developed quietly for decades, before hitting warp speed in just the last couple of years. Will EVTOLs be the next transportation revolution?

Thanks for reading Critical Materials. See you next week!

-Tim Levin