Transition-metal perovskite oxides exhibit moderately correlated metallic phases, several of which exhibit a $T^2$ resistivity scaling up to temperatures far exceeding the regime where Fermi-liquid electron-electron scattering is expected to dominate. Some of these materials, such as ${\mathrm{SrMoO}}_3$, also exhibit unexplained ultralow room-temperature resistivity. We demonstrate that in ${\mathrm{SrMoO}}_3$, ${\mathrm{SrWO}}_3$, ${\mathrm{SrTaO}}_3$, ${\mathrm{SrNbO}}_3$, and ${\mathrm{SrVO}}_3$ electron-phonon scattering results in quadratic-scaling resistivity due to the shape of the Fermi surface and the thermal activation of optical phonons. We also reveal that the origin of the low resistivity of ${\mathrm{SrMoO}}_3$ is an overall low electron-phonon coupling strength, and identify ${\mathrm{SrWO}}_3$ and ${\mathrm{SrTaO}}_3$ as other possible low-resistivity oxides. Additionally, we find that the strength of electron-phonon coupling is sensitive to structural distortions, energies of optical phonons, and the treatment of electronic correlations. This suggests design principles for finding other ultrahigh conductivity transition-metal oxides, and has significant implications for theoretical interpretation of direct-current resistivity in transition-metal oxides and beyond.

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• Carrier dynamics
• Electrical conductivity
• Electron-phonon coupling
• Strongly correlated systems